THE ARTISTIC DIGEST
After admiring Lori Weitzner’s fabulous work in textiles for many years, Artistic Tile is proud to announce an outstanding collaboration with the award-winning design luminary. Lori’s first foray into tile, Lori Weitzner for Artistic Tile brings together the aesthetics and expertise of two category leading design institutions into a set of products that breaks new ground in tile design.
Lori's fabrics and wall coverings grace the homes of A-list celebrities, are used in costumes and sets for major motion pictures and add refinement and atmosphere to some of the world’s leading corporate and design-centric hospitality spaces. Her unique approach finds inspiration
in the outside world to create a
transcendent interior world.
"My design style is very tactile," explained Lori, "Every product we design at our studio is meant to engage all the senses: we don't want people to just look at our products, we want people to experience them."
At that introduction, Lori expressed that she had always wanted to
design a 3D tile of natural stone and accepted an invitation to
visit Artistic Tile’s NYC area production facility to
explore possibilities.
As fortune would have it, one of Artistic Tile’s favorite industry leaders saw potential in a relationship between Lori and Artistic Tile, and introduced her to Artistic Tile’s owners at Interior Design
Magazine’s Best of Year awards, setting the wheels into
motion what would become a wonderful collaboration.
"It was eye-opening for me to learn how stone tile is produced and just how many types of stones there are in the world," said Weitzner, "I actually had no idea until I toured the Artistic Tile headquarters and saw these magnificent slabs of stones I'd never heard of, that I can't believe were created by nature!"
In this first collaboration, Lori called upon her knowledge of textile design techniques, such as pleating, origami, and voided velvet
(which combines raised areas with recessed areas of pile
and flat weave) to create a fabric-like effect on natural stone.
The resulting designs, River and Forest, are etched in detail on natural stone, conveying the flow and organic tranquility of nature, in patterns that allude to the designer’s textile background.
“Fabric roots are infused into a hard-stone surface and I think the juxtaposition of that is beautiful, and really resonates,” said Weitzner.
The stone colors of each pattern also play into the atmospheric effect these tiles create. In Weitzner's first book on design, Ode to Color, she explains the effect of particular color palettes on the mood and atmosphere within a designed space. Two color palettes were
employed in the creation of both Forest and River: "Whisper,"
a white palette that exudes quietude, calmness, and Zen, and
"Night Shadows," which encompasses very sophisticated smoky colors, to impart a sense of intimacy, elegance, and urban-chic seduction.
When used prominently in a space, white “helps facilitate inner
work,” and can make a person feel at home and centered. River in Bardiglio Nuvolato and Forest in Bianco Carrara marble utilize the Whisper palette.
The “Night Shadows” palette is expressed in Forest and
River through the selection of China Black marble, the
dark, textured designs creating an elegant intimacy that
works extremely well in sexy contemporary spaces.
The Lori Weitzner for Artistic Tile collection debuts at the HD (Hospitality Design) Show in Las Vegas on May 15 - 17, 2019.
Image Courtesy of Lori Weitzner
Image Courtesy of Lori Weitzner