Encaustic and cement look tiles: patterned tiles without the upkeep

Patterned tiles came back into kitchens, bathrooms and cafes through encaustic cement tiles: bold medallions, stars and borders in flat, chalky colours. The look is easy to love. Real cement tiles are harder to live with, which is why many designers now specify glazed ceramic tiles printed with an encaustic pattern.

What encaustic cement tiles are

A cement tile is made by pouring coloured cement into a metal mould, one colour per section, backing it with a layer of grey cement and pressing it hard. It is cured, not fired. The pattern is a few millimetres of coloured cement, so it wears with the tile but it is also porous.

Cement tiles and ceramic encaustic-look tiles compared

Cement tiles still have their place, for example where a patina that changes with use is wanted. For kitchens, bathrooms, cafes and busy floors, a glazed ceramic tile is the practical choice.

Medallions and stars

Classic encaustic patterns: a central medallion, framed so that four tiles meet in a second pattern.

Areban 300 × 300 mm

Melisa Art Moroccan 300 × 300 mm

Sklep Orno Art Moroccan 300 × 300 mm

Burn Mont Art Moroccan 300 × 300 mm

Black and white, and dark grounds

Strong contrast suits graphic rooms, bathrooms and coffee counters.

Porto Fatima Moroccan 300 × 300 mm

Vienna Black Moroccan 300 × 300 mm

BW 01 Black-White 300 × 300 mm

Lattices and vintage panels

Marmi 300 × 300 mm

Elton Craft Exterior Design 300 × 300 mm

Mitica Vintage 300 × 300 mm

Valia Wall Concept 300 × 450 mm

Patchwork

A patchwork wall mixes several patterns in one palette. Designs with several faces do it on their own; with others, mix two or three designs that share a background colour.

Burn Mont Art Moroccan 300 × 300 mm

Marvecca 300 × 450 mm

Eclipse Grove 300 × 450 mm

How to lay patterned tiles

1. Lay a few square metres dry on the floor first, to see where four tiles meet and form the larger pattern.
2. Centre the pattern on the wall or the room, so that the cut tiles at both ends are equal.
3. Frame a busy pattern with a plain tile when it covers only part of a wall, such as a backsplash or a panel behind a bed.
4. Choose a grout that matches the tile's background colour, so the pattern reads as one surface.
5. Mix the faces of a design as you fix, so the same face does not sit next to itself.

Walls and floors

Most of our patterned 300 × 300 mm designs are 9.5 mm thick and made for floors as well as walls (each product page says so under Technical details), so one design can run from a kitchen floor up a backsplash, or cover a bathroom floor and a vanity wall.

More on the Moroccan side of the family in Moroccan tiles, and every design in Moroccan tiles and black and white tiles.

Moroccan Moroccan tiles · 5 designs Black-White Black and white tiles · 1 design