MILE®stone Tile has launched its Stories Concept with the first collaborative collection Bestow. The inspiration for the collection started when Jennifer Farris, principal of Bandura Design, agreed to join MILE®stone Tile’s Design Advisory Council (DAC). The purpose of the DAC was to collaborate with the American design community for trends and design needs.
The brand presented the designers with an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at how tile is made. Subsequently, the designers were presented with a task — to design a tile collection with a story the MILE®stone Tile collection. The concept of Stories, “Giving a Voice to the American Design Community,” was created, and the inaugural collection is Bestow.
The story behind Bestow is steeped in history and heritage. It’s the story of women around the world for thousands of years handing down traditional knowledge of handmade creations used both to survive and thrive as individuals and as a community. This collection is therefore bestowed by generations of women.
The team members at Bandura Design gathered inspiration from their own diverse backgrounds with the goal to bring a tool to the design community that allows each individual to engage in play, using the tile collection to create individual expressions of how texture, pattern and textiles can leave an inspiring mark on every project.
The collection is an ode to hand artistry that includes basket weaving, looming, macrame, braiding and quilting. Each design in the collection has been meaningfully named — Arku, Saori, Telares and Kunano.
Arku is the name of one of the archeological sites where the first evidence of weaving was found. This design provides subtle graphics of weaving with colors ranging from white to charcoal.
Telares (pictured) is the Spanish word for weaving-loom or tapestry. This design offers a fabric and carpet look.
Saori is the Japanese word for weaving. The graphic displays a bold yet complementary stripe visual that can be intermingled with the rest of the collection in varying design concepts.
The last is Kunano, the collection’s deco. It is the word for braiding in Eritrea. These decos offer vibrant color and the ability to play with the six faces to create imaginative patterns.
Just as the art of weaving creates blank slate for the artist to combine elements like colors and textures, so does Bestow. With the ability to combine, match and weave together different graphics within the collection, the possibilities are endless.
