5 Questions for Dominic Crinson

Dominic Crinson is a British tile artist who is internationally recognised for his exquisite tile designs. Using a proprietary process for digital printing ceramic tiles, he has led a revolution in wall and floor coverings.

He was involved in projects with Sheraton hotels, Sir David Tang's Beijing Apartments penthouses, The Hard Rock Café Hotel in Las Vegas, in many other luxurious spaces, and also with private clients.

Recently, he started a Kickstarter campaign to launch his book TILE PATTERN COLOUR to share with the audience 1000 tile designs from his career of almost two decades. It's going to be at least a 144 with attention paid to the reproduction quality and paper stock.

Temporary covers for TILE PATTERN COLOUR

Check out more of his amazing designs and the Kickstarter campaign at kck.st/15KEV0k. Campaign ends on 15 Nov 2013.

He has kindly shared with us his experience in tile design in this short 5 Questions interview below.

Q1. Many of your tile designs are very intricate, such as the line work and colour gradations. What are the challenges to getting the designs onto the tiles?

I started out by creating hand formed tiles which were hand painted and then fired. In 1995 I got my first Mac and started making artwork using the now ancient Photoshop vers.3. I wanted a way of applying my digital artwork to create a non digital product so I started experimenting with printing on ceramic decals using a laser copier and transferring these to ceramic tiles.

Traditionally decals were used to decorate pottery and they had been screen printed since Victorian times. My digital technique allowed me to produce tiles of a high colour intensity and resolution but I had many teething issues and inconsistency in print output and this was quite a frustrating time.

After a few years, technological innovations surpassed my technique and so since 2004 I have been using a factory in Stoke on Trent’s historic Potteries region to produce my tiles.

Sample page from TILE PATTER COLOUR

The intricacy of my tile designs is actually important to maintaining a consistent batch of tiles because of the nature of laser printing. Flat colour just doesn’t work with this process. When designing I am very conscious of which colours can be successfully achieved in ceramic as the high temperatures used do limit the colour palette.

There will be plenty to read in the book about our production processes which have developed enormously over the years.

Q2. What's the weirdest question or request that your clients ever make?

I wish my clients gave me more weird requests! I did have a weird press request at a design show in Korea where they wanted to photograph me pretending to piss in a toilet against a backdrop of my tiles.

Q3. You've been involved with many big projects. Which is your favourite or most memorable project and why?

My favourite project to date has been Mood Stockholm which is a boutique shopping mall in Sweden. They asked me to decorate their restrooms according to their three themes: Desire, Wishing and Everyday. So this was my cue to do whatever I wanted.

These could be the most luxurious public toilets in the world. I loved designing this then going to the launch party 1 year later and seeing crowds drinking Champagne in the toilets.

Images of tiles at Mood Stockholm

Q4. On your Kickstarter page, you mentioned that the most exciting projects are often created in intimate spaces of private homes and apartments. What do you mean by exciting and why are they so?

These projects are quite exciting as the client can truly be themselves and create something very personal. They don’t have to be concerned about the general public like the commercial or public sector jobs do. They can often go mad mixing up my designs in a feast of colour and form.

Tiles in a private home

Q5. You've been creating tiles and designs since 1997. What is the most fulfilling part of your job?

I love seeing the projects go from a digital visualisation to the reality of an interior. I also love the anticipation of getting a new collection’s first test tiles hot off the kilns and seeing them for the first time.

Although I think most of all, getting my book published will be incredibly satisfying. I really want to create a work of art with the book, one that celebrates tiles, pattern and colour. It will finally reveal my huge archive of tile designs and I hope inspire designers and home decorators to introduce more colour into their lives. This is my first crowd funded project and the reception has been great so far, with a bit more backing we are set to turn the book into a reality.

Sample pages from TILE PATTER COLOUR

You can fund the Kickstarter campaign to have a copy of this exquisite book, or even own a piece of his tile.

Visit the campaign at kck.st/15KEV0k to see more art.

Campaign ends on 15 Nov 2013.