A sensory quarry tile installation at Clerkenwell Design Week 2022 by Solus

Architects Nick Szczepaniak and Simon Astridge

Architects Nick Szczepaniak and Simon Astridge were commisioned by Solus to create a sensory installation with Ketley quarry tiles for their show room for Clerkenwell Design Week.  They set out to design an installation where people would experience Ketley Brick and their quarry tiles, rather than simply look at them.  They would learn about how the fired clay sounds, how it feels as well as how it looks.

The installation  appropriately called "The Marl Pit", featured the tiles, in a mix of colours  unusually but carefully stacked.  The walls of the show room were painted with a clay slip to add to the immersive experience with both  earthy smell and colour.  A bar was created with stacked tiles and this wall of stacked tiles lead on to the dj area with some planting added in to provide soft detail and more texture. 

In the centre of the showroom, a sensory floor was created, with the tiles laid on edge, and not mortared in, to allow for movement as you travel across it.  The movement created a clinking sound as the tiles moved and knocked against one another, adding an element of surprise and wonder!

The installation was a huge success, providing a hugely dramatic effect, quite different to anything else at Clerkenwell 2022, click on the video below and turn on your sound!

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