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Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

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New traditional bathroom floor subway green tile 3

Nicholas Potts: Historic Primary Bathroom

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2023 img hi res full usage design Atypical design Studio photo jordan Layton wainscott offset cardamom 3x9 floor tile iron ore 2 hexagon FC596427 1

Original Ceramic tiles showcase handmade qualities with unique variations in color, crazing, and finish.

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2024 residential full usage 4x4 terre verte satin red jasper satin indigo satin 2x2 red jasper satin bathroom checkerboard straight set 6x12 cove base indigo satin Pluck Architecture Leonid Furmansky FC796720 2

Our budget-friendly ceramics line, Natural Press is made with your largest indoor and outdoor projects in mind.

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Your first 5 color samples are FREE through a rep

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Modern blue subway wall glass tile 2

Our radiant Glass Tile provides a freshness that pairs perfectly with today’s modern designs indoors or out.

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Glazed Thin Brick Destination Eichler Blue Brick Fireplace

Brick’s hand-mixed glazes enrich its surface, delicately exposing its unique textures and variations with the colors of the environment around us.

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2022 img hi res full rights residential photo design plural design studio bathroom floor tile mini star and cross antique white grout FC 407104 2

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Enscape 2025 04 08 12 57 54

Visualize our tile in your space with our comprehensive design packages.

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Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

See Featured Blog →
New traditional bathroom floor subway green tile 3

Nicholas Potts: Historic Primary Bathroom

See Featured Gallery →
Blog
  • All Blog Posts
  • Design + Inspiration
  • Project Spotlight
  • Tile School
Gallery
  • All Gallery Entries
  • Bathroom
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Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

See Featured Blog →
New traditional bathroom floor subway green tile 3

Nicholas Potts: Historic Primary Bathroom

See Featured Gallery →
Blog
  • All Blog Posts
  • Design + Inspiration
  • Project Spotlight
  • Tile School
Gallery
  • All Gallery Entries
  • Bathroom
  • Kitchen
  • Commercial
Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

See Featured Blog →
New traditional bathroom floor subway green tile 3

Nicholas Potts: Historic Primary Bathroom

See Featured Gallery →
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  3. Industrial Style: History and Inspiration

Design & Inspiration

Industrial Style: History and Inspiration

By Ted Ryan

2019 Img High Res Full Rights Commercial Project M Plus Desiger And Photographer The Salted Pig Restaurant Straight Stack San Gabriel Fc 237420 Ca 7 Color Correction

Soaring loft spaces, urban reclamation projects, and utilitarian sensibilities are all part of the design movement known as industrial style. Learn more about this no-frills look as we take you through the principles, the history, and our favorite projects of industrial style.

Let's get to work!

What is Industrial Style?

Industrial style is the preservation or incorporation of industrial elements in a residential or commercial space. Open plan living spaces, exposed bricks, exposed pipes, and air ducts, reclaimed metals and wood, concrete flooring, industrial lighting fixtures, and neutral color palettes are all examples of the industrial design style.

Cafe Gaia columbia plateau

Brick Shown: Columbia Plateau // Design: Sarah Sherman Samuel // Image: John Stoffer

Industrial style interiors also utilize industrial decor including vintage workbenches, tables, drafting desks, factory carts, chests, stools, and task chairs. A combination of reclaimed wood and wrought iron or stainless steel is a hallmark of industrial furniture design.

Industrial style is all about the patina and designers don’t shy away from things like rust, oxidization, distressed leather, or visible layers of paint. Signs of age and imperfection are part of the charm and legacy of industrial America.

History of Industrial Style

Industrial style in America is a story of economics. Transitioning from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, factories and warehouses shut down during the rise of globalization were converted into housing and retail spaces.

Tile Shown: Crater Lake Matte in 3 x 12 // Design: Swift Studios x Studio Den Den // Image: Swift Studios

Instead of fully renovating these industrial properties, their aesthetics were preserved. Industrial interior design grew in popularity through the latter part of the 20th century that today, many new construction projects are created with an industrial feel.

Our Favorite Industrial Design Projects

Rough-hewn textures and exposed sprinklers and plumbing and wide plank wood floors and a concrete island, this kitchen was calling for a brick backsplash to complement the historic industrial motif.

Monuke Design Scandi Kitchen

Brick Shown: White Mountain // Design: Mokume Design Studio // Image: Christopher Stark

With exposed beams, reclaimed wood, and iron details, this modern kitchen recalls the spirit of industrial style rather than restores it.

Great Smokey Industrial-Inspired Lakeside Retreat

Brick Shown: Great Smoky // Design: Design Harmony // Image: Holland Photography

Exposed pipes, industrial and concrete decor, and a cool neutral color palette, this bathroom hits all the notes of a modern industrial space yet feels refreshingly new.

3x12 Crater Lake Matte Public Bathroom Floor


Tile Shown: Crater Lake Matte in 3 x 12 // Design: Swift Studios x Studio Den Den // Image: Swift Studios

When Myrial took over this historic Saint Paul, MN restaurant space, designer Madelynn Furlong embraced the exposed brick and industrial characteristics by choosing refinishes that fit in with the old soul space like this herringbone 3x12 tile inaptly named Antique.

Antique Herringbone Floor at Myrial Restaurant


Tile Shown: Antique in 3 x 12 // Design + Image: Madelynn Furlong

Pulling inspiration from the rafters of this legendary Grand Rapids, MI vegetarian restaurant, Sarah Sherman Samuel designed this counter bar with industrial Glazed Thin Brick in rich Columbia Plateau. Bonus points for the exposed air ducts worked into the unpretentious design.

Brick Shown: Columbia Plateau // Design: Sarah Sherman Samuel // Image: John Stoffer

Opened as a lumber complex in 1903, Albuquerque’s Sawmill Market is a quintessential example of the evolution of industrial style. Revitalized with a variety of shops and eateries, the Market, including Paxton’s taproom that champions the history of the space with industrial elements like i-beams, unfinished lumber, exposed ceilings, a garage door of black steel framed windows, and Fireclay Glazed Thin Brick.

Paxton's Taproom Blue Ridge Brick

Brick Shown: Blue Ridge // Design: ISLYN STUDIO // Image: Read Mckendree

A brand new apartment building in Savannah, GA’s historic district, the Baxley is a pet-friendly building that opted for an industrial look to match the neighborhood but also meet the demands of their four-legged residents. Concrete floors and durable tile walls in their lounge space make sense from an aesthetic perspective but also a practical one for a living area that gets plenty of unpredictable use. Large industrial pendant lights are a perfect touch to complete the look.

The Baxly Apartment 6x6 Sea Glass


Tile Shown: Sea Glass in 6 x 6 // Design: LS3P // Image: Christine Webb Photography

Another new construction that draws industrial inspiration, David Baker Architects created this San Francisco Apartment Building with a new era of industrial sensibilities in mind. Glazed Thin Brick sheaths the unusual curved exterior accented with metal screen sunshades apply 20th-century industrial home design to 21st-century imagination.

Apartment Building Goes Brick

Brick Shown: Bitterroot Norman // Design: David Baker Architects // Image: Patricia Chang

A vast open space, concrete floors, and columns, and an artistic installation that draws the eye upwards to the exposed ceiling, this office kitchen isn’t trying to hide its industrial identity. A favorite of collaborative open-concept offices, industrial style gives employees plenty of space to gather and share ideas and, in the case of this tiled kitchen, a quick bite between projects.

Revive Healthcare Office Kitchen

Tile Shown: Huckleberry in 3 x 9, Frost in Scalene Triangle // Design + Image: Smith Gee Studio

Brick Shown: San Gabriel // Design + Image: Project M Plus // Installer: The Salted Pig, Boswell Construction

Does industrial describe your aesthetic? Sample our Industrial Style sample favorites for the easiest way to capture the palette and perspective of industrial style in your home with Fireclay Tile.

Industrial Design Tile Colors

Shop the Story

2.5x8 Brick in Columbia Plateau
2.5x8 Brick in Blue Ridge
3x12 Tile in Crater Lake Matte
3x12 Tile in Antique
2.5x8 Brick in White Mountains
  • 1/ Columbia Plateau, 2.5x8
  • 2/ Blue Ridge, 2.5x8
  • 3/ Crater Lake Matte, 3x12
  • 4/ Antique, 3x12
  • 5/ White Mountains, 2.5x8

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White Mountains

White Mountains

Columbia Plateau

Columbia Plateau

Black Hills

Black Hills

Flagstone Matte

Flagstone Matte

Olympic

Olympic

Antique

Antique

Roadrunner Matte

Roadrunner Matte

Adirondack

Adirondack

Elk

Elk

Snowy Owl Matte

Snowy Owl Matte

Raven Matte

Raven Matte

San Gabriel

San Gabriel

Sierra Nevada

Sierra Nevada

Sample all tile colors

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