Introduction to Style Guides

INTRODUCTION

Every room has a story behind it, made up of components that, when combined, evoke a desired emotion or feeling. Individually, these components, whether fixed or not, may sit in a space of imbalance, needing a guide or storyteller (aka a designer) to forge personality guided by their craft. On paper, this sounds reachable and fun, but in reality it’s quite difficult. Researching a design aesthetic is simple. Picking out finishes that fit a chosen aesthetic is less simple, but still manageable. Putting it all together to tell a story that doesn’t look like disheveled mess, now that is actually very hard to do. Even more difficult is designing a space with style in mind which has defined needs, whether commercial or cultural.  

My favorite things & Bohemian Style Tile

A few of my favorite things are pictured above and look similar to our Bohemian Style Tile. I personally love some of the tiles shown in our Bohemian Collections, but as a whole, this aesthetic ranks lower for me despite my range of accessory choices. 

In my personal style, I assume that I do what most people do - pick out things that I love. I describe my own aesthetic as Parisian Lodge, which is mostly just an excuse to keep buying (only) things I love that mostly don’t connect in any kind of sensical design or use manner. Perhaps I’m taking the easy way out, and the hard thing to do is to choose things you like, or better yet, let an expert guide you and put it all together. Just because you don’t love something, doesn’t mean it won’t work in the big picture. Focusing on the whole can be hard. Thankfully, we now have a lot of new tools, and AI (in some cases) to help us all visualize and make storytelling more accessible.

GUIDED BY DESIGN

Few tiles fit cleanly into a neatly carved out style, or solely dictate the style or feeling of a project. The final Design of materials & finishes, meticulously placed are actually responsible for telling the story of a space, evoking emotion & personality. Essentially, expert designers dictate the style, not the material itself. Take for instance the elements in the below design.

Image credit: Sarah Akwisombe

• Dark green vanity - fits well into modern or maximalist style, but this bathroom is not quite maximalist or modern.
• Vertically stacked, elongated in size, monochromatic subway tile fits will into contemporary or transitional style. It could even be considered an a updated version of Mid-Century Modern style.
• 3x6 subway tile - Marble look ceramic subway tile on the floor in a herringbone pattern. This is a traditional material & size, yet the floor is anything but traditional.
• Tile wainscoting - a half tiled wall with tile trim is ubiquitous in traditional style bathrooms.
• Soft pink paint - pink speaks for itself, and can slide into many design styles and help soften other bold elements.  

As a whole, this bathroom tells a story, and it feels like one that could be told for ages to come.

STYLE GUIDES NEW!

Architessa Style Guides is a comprehensive look at 21 different design styles. Each page has been thoughtfully created to give you a picturesque window into the design approach, principles, design language, and aesthetic in each design style. Last, but most importantly, we have included a list of featured tiles that fit the aesthetic. 

Browse the complete Architessa Style Guide, or use the individual links below:

SHOP BY STYLE

Although design primarily dictates style, some products do fit neatly into a specific style. For example, many offerings from Pratt & Larson are the best option for Craftsman style. However, most tile on the market is dynamic, fitting into many design styles (especially with a skilled designer at hand), yet browsing for Mid-Century Modern tiles and seeing every collection on the website would not be helpful.

Craftsman style tile from Pratt & Larson.  Request an appointment to browse.

It’s no small feat to carry a robust selection of high quality products which play a role in storytelling of spaces. If you have already browsed the Architessa website, you already know that our products menu contains a handful of Styles which you can browse tiles & related products that may fit your desired aesthetic. Our product menu doesn’t show them all, but you can browse them by clicking on SHOP BY STYLE to see the full page that includes all 23 collections. All of our menu headers will take you to a page with more choices within the category. 

Now that you know about all of our Style Collections and the new Style Guides we are excited to learn about the inspiration driving your next project.  

Julie Taury has thrived in the tile industry for two decades and held various positions ranging from retail sales to product development. Her unique background in distribution, manufacturing, strategic sales, and the A&D industry has built an unparalleled skill set to navigate the unpredictable surprises of the tile industry. Currently, she is the Chief Innovation Officer at Architessa, and is a remote trailblazer  residing in Auckland, New Zealand.