Johnson Tiles: Projects of the Year, 2014

Johnson Tiles lent its expertise to printing artist Nina Beier's chosen designs onto tiles for her solo exhibition, Tileables, at the David Roberts Art Foundation in Camden earlier this year.

As you can see from the image, they contain an incredible amount of detail and depth, recreating the realism of natural textures and surfaces. The process of printing designs that appear as three-dimensional is a service that we have been championing for some time, and thanks to this artist collaboration with Beier, our products once again ventured into the art arena. Read more here.

This dazzling ceramic display greeted visitors to the Victoria and Albert Museum during The London Design Festival. The installation, entitled Carousel Wall, was a collaboration between ourselves and London-based print and design studio David David.

The walls to the Museum’s tunnel entrance were covered in bold geometric shapes and bright shades, created using more than 1,700 tiles manufactured and printed in our main factory right here in Stoke-on-Trent.

The display represented an interpretation of traditional Islamic geometrics and modern British production, with the design based on an adaptation of Carousel (2011), the Jameel Prize-nominated artwork by David David co-founder David Saunders. Read more here.

Here’s to a happy and prosperous 2015!

One of the most proud and humbling moments of 2014 was when we helped to ensure the Tower of London moat was flowing with poppies on Armistice Day, after stepping in to make thousands of the ceramic flowers for the heartfelt tribute.

We were approached by project artist Paul Cummins to help meet the target of 888,246 poppies, with each ceramic flower representing a person who died in the war. A team of specialist ceramic artists worked round the clock at our factory in Tunstall, individually making and decorating every poppy by hand. Read more here.

Comparison photos taken via helicopter, detailed reproduction of over 16,000 individual tiles, months of manufacturing and even the development of a new ceramic coating… the restoration of the iconic Rainbow Mural at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort was a proud moment for Johnson Tiles this year.

Officially unveiled with all the ceremony of a Hawaiian blessing and dedication, the completion of this giant mural required more than 31,000 new tiles and its $4.25m restoration is testament to our skill as one of the leading ceramic manufacturers in the world. Read more here.

A key moment for us during 2014 was when we collaborated with textile artist and colour consultant Ptolemy Mann to unveil a stunning mural made up of more than 4,200 tiles at Clerkenwell Design Week 2014. The spectrum of never-before-seen shades launched our new Prismatics range.

Aptly named Prismatic Landscape, it covered the outside of the Farmiloe Building, home to The Design Factory throughout one of the biggest events in the design calendar. A total of 4,224 individual tiles were used for the installation, which covered nearly 100 square metres, adorning three of the building’s walls in a riot of shades. Read more here.