Dezeen Magazine

Assemble patterns ceramic tiles by baking them in a barbecue

London Design Festival 2016: Turner Prize-winning collective Assemble has produced ceramic tiles that were "smoked" in a barbecue, as part of their ongoing Granby Workshop project (+ slideshow).

Assemble – a team of 18 young architects and designers – launched the Liverpool-based workshop to sell homeware made in collaboration with local artists and craftspeople.

Assemble patterns ceramic tiles by baking them in a barbecue
Photograph by Jorn Tomter

Their BBQ Tiles are based on the raku firing method – a traditional Japanese process where the fired pieces is removed from the hot kiln and allowed to cool in the open air.

Assemble reinterpreted the raku technique, using a barbecue to fire hundreds of ceramic bisque tiles.

Assemble patterns ceramic tiles by baking them in a barbecue
Photograph by Jorn Tomter

"Our products invite experimentation and improvisation in the way they are made, by introducing chance or intuition at a formative stage in otherwise pragmatic processes," said the collective.

Materials like fruit skins and pine needles were added to the fire to change the smoke intensity, while areas of the tiles were masked with foil to create different patterns.

Assemble patterns ceramic tiles by baking them in a barbecue
Photograph by Robert Battersby

The unpredictable process meant that each tile features an original pattern and colour achieved by the clay's varied exposure to smoke and heat.

Assemble designed the BBQ Tiles as part of Ace Hotel's Ready Made Go 2 project, which sees London-based designers commissioned to create products for specific areas of the venue.

Assemble patterns ceramic tiles by baking them in a barbecue
Photograph by Robert Battersby

The tiles will be used to clad the seventh floor bar inside the hotel, located in the east London area of Shoreditch.

Also for Ready Made Go 2, creative studio Patternity installed a climbing wall patterned with monochrome contours in the basement gym.

Assemble patterns ceramic tiles by baking them in a barbecue
Photograph by Robert Battersby

The project, commissioned and curated by the magazine Modern Design Review, is a part of the London Design Festival, which runs until 25 September 2016.

Other installations and events taking place across the capital during the festival include a kinetic installation that extends across six floors at the V&A museum and an exhibition of minimalist furniture.