Slated for Greatness: 15 Innovative Modern Tile Designs

Recycled Scrap Paper ‘Slate’

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Would you ever guess that these ‘slate’ tiles are actually made from paper? Slate-Ish offers the look of natural stone but is made from recycled and reclaimed scraps of paper-laminate materials salvaged from countertop manufacturers around the United States. They’re ultra-lightweight and come in triangles, parallelograms, hexagons and ‘studs’ that mimic the shape of wooden 2”x4”s.

3D Alexander Tile by Giles Miller

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A variety of angled surfaces that stick out from a flat wall create a 3D effect with Giles Miller’s ceramic ‘Alexander Tile.’ Depending on how they’re angled, the glossy surfaces of the tiles catch the light in different ways, making it possible to illustrate imagery, text or patterns.

Microscape of Manhattan

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Conceived as an art piece rather than a full-wall installation, ‘Microscape’ is a collection of tiles 3D printed from detailed scans of Manhattan. 200 individual tiles create the entire borough, forming a 3.5 foot by 12 foot model.

Rotatable Tiles Create Custom Designs

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Do you prefer strict order, or orderly chaos? How you arrange these tiles to create your own preferred pattern might be telling. ‘Roll’ by Dsignio is a hexagonal tile with a simple line-and-curve design printed on it that can be rotated in any direction to create either predictable repeating patterns or abstracted maze-like designs.

Ceramic City Map Tiles

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Up close, these tiles by LEA Ceramiche just look like an abstract pattern, but zoom out a bit and you start to see city blocks and streets, albeit in a sort of crazed arrangement with no rhyme or reason to it. The raised pattern would make them too difficult to clean as floor tiles, but it’s fun to imagine feeling that texture with your bare feet.