These Fresh-Faced Tile Designs Reimagine Retro-Mod and Geometric Motifs
Your white subway tiles were outré by the end of the aughts. If you haven’t already, it’s time to ditch the chef’s kitchen look for more expressive styles that have as much personality as the dishes you prepare.
Your white subway tiles were outré by the end of the aughts. If you haven’t already, it’s time to ditch the chef’s kitchen look for more expressive styles that have as much personality as the dishes you prepare.
Saturated Subway
Leaving their classic white counterparts behind, super-saturated subway tiles are currently having their day in the spotlight. Pastels and pale tones dominated the last few years (and will likely stick around a bit longer), but expect to start seeing deeper and more vibrant hues, such as teal, tangerine, and burgundy.
- Acacia Solana by Concrete Collaborative
- Multiforme by Marca Corona
- Brickworks Nuances by Casalgrande Padana
Mod Patterns
Tile brands are reimagining retro-mod geometric motifs, the most notable being the quarter and half circle. Some, like Ceramica Bardelli, have gone even further: The Italian brand launched a new mod collection, Monoscopia, with a coordinating fluted tile—dimensional semicircles in profile.
- Monoscopio 4 and 6 by Ceramica Bardelli
- Monoscopio 1 by Ceramica Bardelli
- In Falda by Cir
- Euclid Studio Line by New Ravenna
- Kat and Roger by Pratt and Larson
Wallpaper-esque
Mural and wallpaper styles remain popular, and in recent years, they’ve become more convincing—especially when the tiles are rectified to hide grout lines. The visuals run the gamut from large-scale monstera leaves to flocked jacquard and small repeating organic motifs like Walker Zanger’s Pop Culture Feathers.
Patchworks
Patterns mixing graphics, shapes, and colors make for tile quilts of sorts. The mixed doodle-emblazoned Alex Proba x Strands tiles from Concrete Collaborative resemble Henri Matisse’s bold cutout works.
New Textures
Tile makers have been dabbling with impressions of imperfections both slight and extreme. Decoratori Bassanesi recently explored the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi—a concept of imperfect beauty—in its collection of the same name with a Japanese-style roller-shade imprint.
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