Raven Tiles
Raven is the European Japanese Tile Specialist curating tiles from Japans finest Ceramicists. Based in London, it works with a broad spectrum of Japanese manufacturers, ranging from small family-owned businesses with only a few employees to one of Japans largest corporations, LIXIL.
Japanese Ceramic production entered its golden age in the 16th Century with military commanders being gifted tea sets the higher the quality of ceramic/glaze, the greater the honour and social standing. The competition for the best commanders resulted in innovation and skills in the master craftsmen of the time that are still evident in the tiles Raven offer today.
There are two parts to any tile the body, which is made from clay and the surface glaze. The type of clay and the way it’s fired are crucial to the final quality of the tile – strength, durability, and frost resistance. Our tiles are produced using the finest clays, most of them in the ‘Porcelain’ class and are suitable for outdoor use and will remain looking wonderful long after the building around them fades. The character comes from the glaze and a common feature in our tiles is the traditional Japanese aesthetic, Wabi-Sabi, the beauty of imperfection. For the tile glaze, this means the patterns, colours and textures are developed naturally in the kiln during the firing phase. Even though all the tiles receive the same wet glaze, the position within the oven will create natural variation rather than a flat modern factory finish. We see some extreme examples of this in the ancient “Yohen” kiln that some of Ravens producers still use. The mixture of natural glaze ingredients results in truly dramatic effects, which are then individually sorted by hand and mounted manually to produce stunning mosaic sheets. The choice of tiles from Japan is almost endless and Raven take great pride in presenting you only the very finest.
See us at Surface Design Show – Raven Tiles stand 301.