Wood floors + tiles = end-grain mosaics!

Last week I wrote a post on the plethora of amazing faux-wood porcelain tiles on the market. Today I thought I’d salute the real thing by highlighting a cool product I just read about in This Old House: end-grain wood tiles by Treeborn Mosaic Flooring (a sideline venture of a Pennsylvania-based millwork concern). Tiles are made from dense African wood species like Sapele, Oroko, and ebony–all responsibly sourced in Ghana–and installed via a proprietary poured-in-place grout that’s unaffected by moisture. In fact, company founder John Starke apparently developed the line when searching for flooring that could withstand flooding in his own riverfront home!

There are 24 patterns in all; check out more designs here.

As seen in: Christian Louboutin, Sao Paolo

This is very cool: New York firm 212box just designed a Sao Paolo, Brazil, flagship for stiletto maker Christian Louboutin in the city’s ritzy Iguatemi shopping center. The facade is covered in a mosaic of 9,000 sandblasted-wood tiles, each 2 inches square, that have been laser-engraved with letters and symbols from 28 different alphabets. (The hand-drawn quality is courtesy of 212box principal Eric Clough’s 12-year-old nephew–obviously a budding designer in his own right!–who sketched the letters and made up 400 imaginary symbols of his own.)

The store opens next Wednesday, but you can get a sneak peek–if not a new pair of heels–below [photos by Raphael Briest]:

The boutique, as seen from within the shopping center

Each sandblasted-wood tile is 2 inches square.

The tiles are laser-cut with letters and symbols from various alphabets

A rendering of the store facade