We’re certainly not the first people to tell you that tile furniture had something of a moment in 2020. But because of tile’s inherent limitations, those pieces tend to have a certain sameness, even as their palettes and patterns change. That’s why Tajimi Custom Tiles, a new brand based in the historic center of the Japanese tile industry, feels incredibly novel. To celebrate the launch of their custom-tailored tiles — and to showcase the brand’s almost innumerable possibilities —Tajimi commissioned installations from Max Lamb and Kwangho Lee. Called Working Tile, Max’s collection employs a process called pressure moulding, which allowed the designer to create highly precise three-dimensional tiles that wrapped around curved corners; Kwangho’s series, on the other hand, was inspired by the more typical technique of extrusion. In his pieces, a single module in the form of a looped line — somewhat reminiscent of Kwangho’s previous experiments with “knitting” various materials — can be repeated and stacked into any number of different shapes and sizes to form everything from a wall to a stool.

PHOTOS BY KENTA HASEGAWA

Kwangho Lee

Max Lamb