Dezeen Magazine

David Amar's Bialik furniture collection references Art Deco floor tiles in a Tel Aviv home

London designer David Amar has created a dressing unit, a daybed and benches with built-in storage, based on floor tiles in a heritage-listed 1920s home in Tel Aviv, Israel (+ slideshow).

Bialik Collection by David Amar

The Bialik Collection was originally designed for the owners of a refurbished house in the White City district – a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site filled with Art Deco, Bauhaus and International Style buildings constructed when Tel Aviv was expanded in the 1920s and 1930s.

Bialik Collection by David Amar

The exterior of the building on Bialik Street, close to the city's Bauhaus Museum, was renovated in keeping with its original design like many similar properties in the area.

However, one of the few authentic features to remain inside was a set of floor tiles preserved as a "rug" embedded within a dark cast-concrete floor.

Bialik Collection by David Amar

The tiles were the starting point for the collection of furniture that Amar designed for the dressing room in which the decorative floor was found.

Bialik Collection by David Amar

"The furniture's colours complement the tiles while suggesting a neutral, yet playful atmosphere," he said.

Bialik Collection by David Amar

The free-standing dressing unit is made of powder-coated steel frames, connected to a dark cast-concrete base. It incorporates a full-length mirror, a screen and a small dressing table with a single drawer.

Bialik Collection by David Amar

"All three swivel around the concrete base to allow for flexibility and a dynamic user experience," said Amar.

Bialik Collection by David Amar

A stool with a matching frame and a seat upholstered in fabric by Danish company Kvadrat accompanies the dressing table.

Bialik Collection by David Amar

A bespoke daybed was designed and made using the same materials. The fabric seams on the mattress create a grid, which mimics the vertical lines of the steel frame to create an asymmetrical pattern, and echoes the shapes in the floor.

Bialik Collection by David Amar

Originally designed to fit along each of the dressing room's four walls, dark-stained white oak shelving units double up as benches, providing seating as well as open storage space. Their dark concrete bases were designed to merge into the client's concrete floor.

Bialik Collection by David Amar

Although the bespoke pieces were first created for a specific client brief, the products are designed to be mass-produced and are available to buy from the designer's website.

Photography is by Shaxaf Haber.