Spaces

OBSESSION NO 546: FLOOR TILES

29th April 2014

Okay, I’ll admit, the title of this post is a little misleading. It suggests that I have so far posted about 545 other obsessions (which I don’t think I have) but it struck me while looking at this apartment in Barcelona just how many posts on Copperline have made reference to one obsession or another, be it elegant Parisian apartments or houses clad in black timber (of which there are now too many examples to mention!).

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Given that most design bloggers are by their nature obsessed by design (hands up everyone), I figure it’s perfectly acceptable to post about another obsession: patterned floor tiles. Granted, this style isn’t new: we’ve seen patterned floors cropping up more and more in interior shoots, but this is an aesthetic that never fails to grab me. And here, in this renovated apartment in the Eixample district of Barcelona, which was redesigned by DS Architects, the geometric tiled flooring is original.

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Throughout the project, the architects retained the original features – including plaster mouldings, panelled doors and working window shutters – and combined these elements with crisp contemporary detailing, as evident in the streamlined dining-kitchen. I always admire this combination of contemporary design with traditional elements: the antique chest-of-drawers in the hallway and the delicate chandelier in the bedroom versus the crisp white dining table and Arne Jacobsen dining chairs. And it’s not all ‘designer’: those rattan pendants in the studio space are by Ikea.

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But the element that holds this living space together, the feature that creates a flow and packs a visual punch, is the geometric tiled flooring, which – according to Rue magazine, which featured this apartment – was made popular with Barcelona’s high society during the Art Nouveau period. I can’t get enough of this look, frankly. If you’re similarly obsessed, Fired Earth have a beautiful range of Encaustic tiles – the geometric Evora is my firm favourite – while Harvey Maria stock a gorgeous Parquet Charcoal vinyl floor tile designed by Neisha Crosland that would achieve a similarly striking look.

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Getting the lifestyle afforded by the Barcelona location… well, that’s another dream.

See the post on this apartment on Rue. Photography by Eric Cuvillier and Adria Goula.