I love encaustic! All those pleasingly bold and colorful geometric patterns look like carpets underfoot. And the material (which is really just cement) seems to be making a bit of a comeback–I’m seeing it everywhere, not only perking up residential projects but also restaurant, retail, and hospitality environments, too.
To wit: the above and below are from the new Allsaints Spitalfields boutique on Lincoln Road in Miami. Some of the tiles are beautifully patinated; wondering if they are original to the space or reclaimed from elsewhere? Hmmm…
Another satisfying design: these blue-and-maroon beauties are installed at the awesome new La Greca Cafe at 324 Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where I recently enjoyed a hot chocolate + a slice of chocolate bread. (Little news piece on the cafe here.) The cafe overtakes what used to be my favorite vintage furniture shop, run by dealer Carl Chaffee. Luckily, the space is still under Chaffee’s purview; he got fatigued by the whole furniture-dealing biz and decided to switch gears by designing and operating a coffee shop in this emerging residential area. If you see him behind the counter, chat him up about his smashing design!
Stole this overall shot from someone’s Flickr feed:
PS, this is what the space used to look like, before Chaffee converted it into a cafe!
Concluding with a snap from a roadside cafe en route from Bogota, Colombia, to Anapoima, where I recently spent a divine weekend in an amazing piece of architecture that I’ll blog about later this week.
Have any favorite resources for cement and encaustic tile? Leave a comment below!
Some of mine:
