Tile: UBIQUITY Stainless Steel Brushed Finish
10 years ago, design impresario Karim Rashid and ALLOY pushed the boundaries of traditional tile design with the release of the Karim for ALLOY collection with the collaboration receiving a great deal of attention world wide.
Karim has had a long association with ALLOY, specifying ALLOY’s unique solid metal tiles in many of his interior and exterior designs internationally including the Semiramis Hotel in Greece, Nooch restaurant in Singapore and Majik Café in Belgrade.
The highly innovative collection of eight, predominantly organic metal tile ‘cells’ is just as relevant and sought after today as it was in 2009. Each design was carefully developed, tested and manufactured in ALLOY’s Australian factory. Every ALLOY tile is punched from individual sheets of solid, 0.9mm high quality metal to deliver a seamless, hardwearing finish.
“I have always been obsessed with patterns,” said Karim at the time of the launch. “Working with ALLOY has given me a great opportunity to play with the idea of pattern, grid, and repetition.
A pattern is a way of giving richness and depth to our Cartesian landscape. The more diversity of line, shape, and composition, the more interesting a single cell is. The undulating, curvilinear forms give a 2-dimensional surface a sense of 3-dimensions. These elements repeat in a predictable manner but they are designed to contradict the square tile.
This collection for ALLOY is organic in shape because I believe that the world needs a softening and a more fluid human spirit.”
The eight Karim for ALLOY metal tile designs are suitably named flux , infinit , karma , kismet , kismet+karma , ninja , kink and ubiquity and are available in all of ALLOY’s high quality metals including Copper, Stainless Steel (brushed finish, mirror finish, 2b finish), Raw steel, Brass and Titanium (Amber and Gold).
"It was incredibly exciting to develop a range with Karim that was and is still, so unique,” says ALLOY Design Director Jonathon Worner. “Karim’s work is always closely followed and we are particularly interested in his ability to create truly distinctive work that focus's on the design language of the future and not the past. We love to challenge the boundaries of traditional tile design and manufacture and the organic nature of The Karim for ALLOY collection developed a visual fluidity with metal tiles that had not been achieved before."
Megal tile