HOW SERHII MAKHNO REINVENTED ART TILES

In the minds of the average user, ceramic tiles are mostly a decor for bathrooms and wet areas. Serhii Makhno managed to challenge this and received the “Best of the best” award from the Red Dot Award. What is the new generation of art tiles, what does 3D and handmade production have to do with it – read on.

HISTORY

Decorative ceramic tiles were known and widely used in ancient times, as evidenced by the magnificent mosaics from Pompeii and Herculaneum. However, this technique was most developed in the Islamic world. Palaces, public buildings, and mosques were richly decorated with dense ceramic mosaics of amazing complexity. Due to the influence and spread of Islam in the Middle Ages, this tradition was expressed in other Mediterranean countries, especially Spain and Portugal, famous for its multicolored azulejas.

Interestingly, despite its rich history of decoration, in recent times ceramic tiles have been perceived as a functional element rather than a decorative one.

TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS

First, the Ukrainian context was important to Serhii Makhno, because ceramic tiles are clay on the walls, which is a continuation of the idea of mazanka, the main Ukrainian invention for wall decoration. This is about the essence.

Now about the form. It is neither simple nor ordinary. Because by rethinking other Ukrainian traditions, such as vytynanka, artistic painting, and authentic ceramics, Serhii and his team created a know-how – a three-dimensional 3D tile that forms a three-dimensional pattern on the walls rather than a flat one. 

A picture that plays with light and shadow in different lighting conditions and creates an extraordinary, amazing effect.

IDEA AND REALIZATION

Today, the brand’s arsenal includes about two dozen different shapes of designer tiles, almost all of which are inspired by nature: “dew”, “grass”, “wind”, etc.

Serhii’s childhood memories of morning walks in the dew, the patterns created by the wind on a field of rye or the surface of a lake, the texture of fish scales or handmade figurative cutouts – childhood impressions have been transformed into original solutions that now broadcast Ukrainian identity to the world.

Like the unique ceramic tiles VYTYNANKY tiles, they are inspired by the memories of vytynanky from Serhii Makhno’s rural childhood. Vytynanky is a Ukrainian decorative art of creating paper patterns for various holidays. The team used the principle of vytynanka, but transferred it to ceramics and added volume. First, they made 3D visualizations, then models, then created test samples, tested, corrected deficiencies, optimized, and finally launched into production.

MANUFACTURING

Each of these art tiles is made by hand. MAKHNO does not use machines or machines. The closed production cycle is carried out exactly as it was hundreds and thousands of years ago, preserving the living impression and perfect imperfection in every millimeter.

For example, this designer ceramic tiles are not dried in industrial ovens, but simply in the open air, where the wind and sun interact with them. Such unpredictable influences create the living beauty of a handmade product.

RECOGNITION

So, MAKHNO does not just decorate the walls with decorative tiles. We can say that they embroider and carve them. These three-dimensional patterns are an exclusive product that did not exist in the world. The brand has received the world’s most prestigious awards not for its new tile shape, but for the new principle it offers.

Among the honors is the “Best of the best” statuette from the Red Dot Award, which is called the Oscar for designers.

But the most important thing for the artist and his team was to change the paradigm. A few years ago, ceramic tiles were mostly used to decorate wet areas, and now 3D ceramic art tiles cover the best walls of homes around the world as an independent art object.

And not only the walls, but also the ceiling. In the living room, kitchen or bedroom. In an apartment, restaurant or business center. Today, exclusive tiles by MAKHNO is chosen by beauty connoisseurs from all over the world to turn ordinary rooms and offices into art spaces. Where life is transformed into art.

WE ART THE WORLD