A new range of tiles by renowned designer Philippe Starck – named Flexible Architecture – has been released and it’s an extremely interesting idea, to say the least!
We’ve recently seen a trend towards concealing joins – whether it be through the use of stainless steel or solid surfaces for benchtops, or larger format tiles and colour-matched grout to reduce the amount of visible joins.
But this new collection throws all that out the window and seeks to enhance the joins and make them an aesthetic feature of the tile. As seen in these examples, the joins add definition and become a modular, decorative element of the tile design.
Various colours are available in matt and gloss with five different edge profiles which allows the designer to mix and match combinations of thicknesses and surface textures to create their own configuration.
Philippe Starck says: “It’s only the beginning of an infinite potential, of a new creativity to serve architecture and architects. Finally, I discovered I can exaggerate the joint and enhance if on one side, two sides or four sides in order to create an innovative architectonic subject”.
Flexible Architecture by Philippe Starck is available from Academy Tiles. For more information visit www.academytiles.com.au
Over to you….tell us what you think? I suspect this idea will polarise the design community and you’ll either love it or hate it. It will be very interesting to hear what you have to say.
