"Besides being one of the most visited cities in Europe, Barcelona is famous around the world for its peculiar modernist architecture"
The history of cement tiles
At the end of XIX and the beginning of XX century, a number of Catalan architects, the most famous of whom was Antoni Gaudì, changed the face of Barcelona with their unique buildings.
Cement tiles floors, with their elaborated and imaginative patterns, became a distinctive trait of Barcelona’s modernist architecture.
"Cement tiles became a beautiful, affordable substitute to natural stone"
How cement tiles were made
They were made one by one by cold-pressing together a layer of high quality white Portland cement, marble powder, fine sand and natural mineral colour pigments, onto a base of more coarse cement and sand with a hydraulic press (from here they derive their spanish name “baldosas hidraulicas”). These tiles, exhibited to the Paris International Exhibition of 1867 by the Catalan company Garret & Rivet, were seen as a beautiful, affordable substitute to natural stone like marble.
"Cement tiles floors, with their elaborated and imaginative patterns, are a distinctive trait of Barcelona’s modernist architecture"
Reinterpreting the past was one of the core characteristics of modernist art.
Cement tiles were about making amazing floors with more affordable materials. With these two ideas in mind, we created our first collection of Soft Tiles® Cushions, a contemporary reinterpretation of some of the most beautiful floors from the iconic modernist tradition of Barcelona. A reinterpretation not only making a contemporary use of colour and shapes, but also transferring those incredible patterns onto a different medium: fabric.
"Good design goes beyond the fashion of the moment"
What is good design?
Good design is not such an easy thing to achieve. It's more than just making something beautiful.
Good design must be functional, it needs to respond to some aesthetic criteria. Of course, it should fulfil its purpose and be sustainable. Good design should not be ephemeral, it should go beyond the fashion of the moment.
"Soft Tiles®, handmade in Barcelona"
Sustainability is not an option.
We live in an over-consumption society. Mass produced, low cost design has too high a price. Fashionable, ephemeral design, has a short life: it's already old when the fashion is over. And we don't need more disposable design.
Good design, today, must be friendly to our environment and guarantee fair work conditions to the human beings who produce it.
"If you love something, you want it to last forever"
We decided to bet on beauty and sustainability.
This has been our commitment from the beginning: make something beautiful and appealing, a design people would feel in love with. At the same time, we wanted our cushions to be durable, because if you love something, you want it to last forever.
We are committed to environmental sustainability and against labour exploitation. That's why our Soft Tiles® cushions are made with 100% organic cotton and each production stage takes place in Spain.
In this first collection, we present six patterns divided in two different colour palettes. The flexibility of their design allows for many different combinations giving everyone, everywhere, the possibility to enjoy the beauty of the marvelous, unique Barcelona’s floors.