Surface Design Awards – Complete

• INTERIOR SURFACE OF THE YEAR - NEW
  This is a new category that recognises wall, floor, ceiling and surface design products, including decorative, creative and inventive surfaces for the interior of buildings including both commercial and residential properties.

• Temporary Structure

Melrose is a collection of glazed ceramic wall tiles that combines form and function across an on-trend slim format size of 245x75mm, keying into the trend for small format tiles. With this slim brick format, Melrose is sleek and sophisticated, adding a distinct and personal touch to any space. The slim size allows for the creation of truly unique lay patterns to provide stunning decoration and maximise the creative possibilities within any interior. Innovation is explored with a cleverly designed structure providing the illusion of a wavy edge with a welt frame, with the straight edges of the pieces providing ease of fixing.

Manufactured in the UK, our Melrose range features a rustic structure combined with a glossy glaze to give a handcrafted aesthetic. With natural variation in colour and texture suitable for any interior space, Melrose offers five neutral tones of Bone, Pewter, Slate, Moss, and Stone to give a modern look ideal for any interior space.

The Melrose colours are inspired by our natural surroundings, the palette for this UK designed and manufactured range is also heavily influenced by a key trend for interiors; Serenity. This trend encourages a natural rhythm and balance to modern life, with colours captured on a spectrum from terracotta to blues and greens. Melrose showcases cool tones and earthy neutrals moving towards soothing blues and greens to create calmness and tranquillity. The inviting hues of Stone are warm and welcoming, contrasted with the deeper tones of Pewter and Slate which add a modern twist for a contemporary colour palette.

Our design team have a wealth of experience of using inkjet colour. Melrose utilises varied inkjet coloured textures paired with an added frame, which is lifted with the coloured glossy glaze. This combination with the rustic structure adds surface interest with depth, tactility, and effective aesthetic appeal.

Melrose is a glazed ceramic wall tile range designed and made by us in the UK, in the Potteries’ heartland of Stoke-on-Trent. All of the raw materials used in the manufacturing process of our tiles are also sourced from within the UK; with our manufacturing and warehousing facilities centrally located for the most carbon efficient and environmentally sustainable method of supplying tiles into the UK market.
Our Raw Materials:
Ball Clay (35%) - Sourced from Dorset (approx. 195 miles from Johnson Tiles)
China Clay (19%) - Sourced from Devon (approx. 205 miles from Johnson Tiles)
Sand (17%) - Sourced from Cheshire (approx. 35 miles from Johnson Tiles)
Limestone (9%) - Sourced from Derby (approx. 40 miles from Johnson Tiles)
Pitcher / Recycled Ceramic (20%) - Sourced from Johnson Tiles in Stoke on Trent
Water
% = Amount of raw material used in our tile body.

Johnson Tiles is the UK's only large-scale manufacturer of ceramic tiles. We’ve dedicated over two decades to finding better ways to operate across every aspect of our business by cutting energy consumption, diverting waste, reducing carbon emissions and calibrating our ceramic recipe to ensure that every single tile we manufacture contains up to 20% recycled ceramic

Here at Johnson Tiles we have always been at the forefront of sustainability initiatives. In recent years; to maintain our strong position as the UK’s leading ceramic tile manufacturer, we have shifted our focus to include the three pillars of sustainability: People, Profit and Planet. We are constantly setting new environmental standards in the manufacturing of ceramic tiles in the UK. Proudly operating from our home in the Potteries’ heartland of Stoke-on-Trent, our commitment to sustainable manufacturing has seen us develop over 50 environmentally-friendly ranges, inspiring and enhancing projects around the world.

We are currently the only UK tile manufacturer to hold an EPD certificate! Our Environmental Product Declaration transparently communicates the environmental performance and impact of our UK manufactured products over their lifetime, and it signals our commitment to measuring the environmental impacts of our products and the strive to discover ways to further reduce this. We have also carefully calibrated our ceramic recipe to ensure that every single tile we manufacture like our Melrose range contains up to 20% recycled ceramic material as part of our pioneering ceramic waste recycling system with the aim to further improve this.

We have a long standing commitment to our environmental management and we have had a formal Environmental Policy in place since 1992. Certified against the ISO 14001 standard; in 1998 we became the first ceramics company within the white-wares sector to gain this certification and have since successfully upgraded it to meet the latest requirements.

Each year, starting in 2020, we’ve removed approximately 100 tonnes of single-use plastics from our manufacturing, merchandising and logistics processes; making us the first tile manufacturer to do so. Our single-use plastics free packaging consists of the following; fully recycled and recyclable plant-based sugar cane wrap, 100% recycled and recyclable cardboard pallets and re-used and re-usable wooden pallets.

With Melrose we wanted to achieve the illusion of a wavy edge and the artwork had to be perfect. The structure needed to have a welt frame and contrasting educating surface to ensure it provided a handcrafted aesthetic, this took a series of trials to ensure we had the right effect and production limitations were considered to ensure we could make the tile effectively.

The glaze base colours were carefully selected, keeping in mind trends and historical sales data. To achieve the perfect look, many inkjet trials were completed. The trials needed to ensure the fusion of textured colour, added edge detail, and worn textures were perfect and worked effectively with the base glaze. Inkjet textures include a mix of tones to add depth and surface interest.

The combination of structure, glaze, and inkjet created the desired handcrafted aesthetic Melrose is now known for. In the initial production of Melrose there was an issue with the die, where part of the tile would not remove from the die. A die presses the textured surface. However, a quick modification of the die overcame this. Other than that, the way the tile was carefully designed by in our in-house design team ensured that once the lines were set up the product ran correctly.