Shapes
The innovative, solid metal mosaic tiles produced by ALLOY are available in six different metals combined with four different possible finishes, and in a total of 31 collections. In these collections we find a rich variety of sizes and shapes, some of which look deceptively simple with their straight lines and exact angles, and others which look more exotic with their unusual, flowing and rounded forms. We have familiar geometric shapes such as squares, rectangles and triangles, but also circles, and more complicated shapes such as a hexagon or a cross. The eight most innovative, organically shaped tiles were created especially for ALLOY by Karim Rashid, the international design legend.
The metal mosaic tiles have the following shapes:
Square
This is the traditional and prototypical shape for a mosaic tile, and it’s found in six of ALLOY’s collections of metal mosaics, making it the second most common shape after the rectangle. Glomesh (10 x 10 mm) are the smallest squares, and the smallest of all tiles in ALLOY’s collections. This is followed by Mosaic and Diamond, which are both the same size (20 x 20 mm), but differ in that the squares in the Diamond collection balance on one corner, creating a rhombus or diamond-shaped tile. The next largest square tile is found in the Attica collection (41 x 41 mm), followed by Cinquanta (50 x 50 mm) and finally the largest of all, Century (100 x 100 mm).
Rectangle
The rectangle is the shape most commonly found in ALLOY’s range of metal mosaic tiles, as there are a total of ten collections with rectangular tiles of different sizes and arrangements. Many of these collections arrange the tiles in such a way that they resemble traditional bricks assembled to build a wall. The collection Avenue (115 x 10 mm) offers the longest and most delicate-looking rectangle, followed by Deedee and Linear. The tiles in these latter two collections are the same size (100 x 10 mm) but differ in the pattern in which the tiles are arranged. Another quite versatile, rectangle-shaped tile is found in four different collections: Basketweave, Cabin, Herringbone and Pk (40 x 12 mm). The tiles in Basketweave and Herringbone are laid in a highly contemporary version of traditional patterns. A somewhat chunkier rectangular tile is found in the collections Bauhaus and House (40 x 20 mm), but in contrasting patterns. The by-far largest rectangle, finally, and the largest tile in all of ALLOY’s collections, is the Subway mosaic tile (152.4 x 76.2 mm).
L-shaped compound rectangle
Only one of ALLOY’s collections of metal mosaic tiles has this unusual L shape: Kink. The dimensions are such (50 x 50 mm) that two such tiles combined create a rectangle.
Cross
This unusual shape for a mosaic tile is found in the collection Swiss Cross, and features a symmetrical cross (30 x 30 mm) in which all four arms are the same length.
Triangle
A triangle is another shape not commonly used in mosaics. The tiles in the Deco collection have this unusual form, and the dimensions are such (33 x 17 mm) that two tiles together form a diamond, and four a square.
Circle
Circular tiles of different sizes are found in four of ALLOY’s collections of metal mosaics. The smallest circles are in the Penny collection (19 x 19 mm), followed by the Dollar collection (28 x 28 mm). Medallion and Dome both feature the largest circular tile (47 x 47 mm), but whereas the surface of the Medaillon tiles is flat, that of the Dome tiles is slightly convex.
Hexagon
The collection Honey (29 x 25 mm) has innovative tiles with six sides, in the shape of a hexagon.
Organic forms designed by Karim Rashid
In collaboration with ALLOY, designer Karim Rashid has developed a total of eight collections of metal mosaic tiles, seven of which have excitingly unique, organic forms: Flux (30 x 60 mm), Infinit (50 x 70 mm), Karma (40 x 60 mm), Kismet (40 x 60 mm), Ninja (50 x 50 mm) and Ubiquity (40 x 50 mm). The collection Kismet&Karma (60 x 80 mm) combines larger versions of the tiles from the Kismet and the Karma collections.