It’s not surprising, of course, that much of the inspiration for Granada Tile’s cement tile designs comes from Central and South America and Europe. The tradition of concrete tiles is strong across those regions to say the least. Did you know, though, that Granada Tile’s Echo Collection has an assortment of tiles whose design inspiration springs from the arts of Japan? Nara, Kyoto, Kitami and Hokkaido all take their cues from 200-year-old embroidery patterns and offer our customers yet another beautiful, versatile way to create a cement tile installation.
Specifically the tile designs come from Japanese sashiko embroidery patterns. For the non-needle-worker (maybe many of us), sashiko is a type of folk embroidery that creates geometrically patterned backgrounds of curved or straight lines. The word sashiko literally means “little stabs”—a nod to the very small stitches employed in creating the artful needlework.
Though the source material might be centuries old, the cement tile designs seem anything but antique. Instead they are bold, lively, and thoroughly modern—at home in a variety of tile installations from wall tiles in a bathroom to backsplash tiles in a kitchen. Depending on the colors chosen for the tiles’ palette, the design can be either muted or played-up, depending on the role you want your cement tiles to have in your tile installation.
See something that strikes your fancy? Visit our Echo Collection catalogue and play with palettes and then head over to our layout tool and experiment with your tile installation ideas. If you’re looking for some real world tile pictures, visit our installation pages and see how clients have used some of these tile designs in their own projects. Maybe you can bring some Japanese spirit into your own home.
