Designing your bespoke tile installation

1. What is a custom tile layout design?

A custom (or bespoke) tile layout design is a visually accurate plan of the finished installation, tile by tile, made to the exact dimensions of the client’s wall or floor. Smink Studio designs every layout by hand, with no AI involved, according to the client’s brief or their chosen inspiration. Once the design is finalised with the client, the studio recommends trim pieces such as bullnose tiles, so the order contains everything needed for the final installation.

The layout also tells Smink Studio exactly how many of each tile to make, which keeps waste to a minimum and gives the tiler a clear plan.

2. What is the starting point for the design process?

Every Smink Studio design starts with the client’s inspiration or their openness to our suggestions. The inspiration can be a design from the Smink Studio website, a photograph of an existing Smink installation, or an image or description of something else entirely that captures what the client wants to create. Clients have come to Smink Studio with a painting, for example, and explained that they wish to capture the painting’s feel in a tiled wall. Together with the client’s choice of colours, that inspiration becomes the brief for the layout design.

3. Can I create my own tile layout?

Clients can create their own layout design on paper or digitally but Smink Studio almost always creates it for the client based on a brief or description. That is partly because Smink Studio’s aesthetic reflects what they think works and they know how and where to introduce gradients and white space to allow a design to breathe. And it’s partly because copying a design that a client has created into the in-house software is tedious work! That software includes a library of shapes, colours and tile formats that allows the studio to place the order with the factory.

4. Can I send you something like an image of an artwork as a starting point for the tile layout?

Yes, clients often send visual images as the inspiration for a layout design. In the past, clients have sent images of paintings that they own and which they want to capture in a tiled wall, as well as artwork that they themselves have created. Mood boards are a common starting point, as are renderings. Clients also send images of a kitchen cupboard or even an orange range cooker that they wanted the tile layout design to incorporate.

5. Can you match a specific paint, fabric or brand colour?

Yes, for projects above 20m2 / 200sf, Smink Studio can develop a new glaze or pigment colour to match a paint, fabric or brand colour (a charge may apply for creating it). Because glazes change in the kiln, a new colour is developed through test firings and approved on a sample tile before production begins.

6. Does the layout design cost extra?

No. Smink Studio’s layout design service is complimentary. Every client receives a bespoke design, and we incorporate revisions in response to feedback. Before clients place an order, they receive, along with the design, a full list of all the different types of tile required along with the quantities of each.

7. How do I stop a patterned tile wall looking too busy?

The short answer is that Smink Studio does that for you. The layout design is a complimentary service with every order. The longer answer is: a patterned wall looks calm when the pattern is planned. Smink Studio creates a first design and then adjusts it in response to the client’s feedback. The team has long experience of making designs that are balanced, using techniques such as grouping similar tiles, using gradients of colour or pattern across a wall, and leaving areas of plain tile as negative space. The aim is a design that stands the test of time.

8. Can the design work around windows and niches?

Yes. Working around windows and niches is an essential part of a successful installation, and Smink Studio has substantial experience of it. Clients supply the positions of these features along with their dimensions, and Smink Studio accounts for these in the layout design. A window with a return will receive a different treatment to a window with an architrave frame. Tiles can even be custom-made to a particular size to fit seamlessly. Smink Studio ensures that pattern lines up and cuts fall where they are least visible.

9. Can I see what the finished wall will look like before I order?

Yes. Smink Studio’s layout design enables clients to visualise the finished installation, showing every tile in place, to scale, across their wall or floor. Clients can review it and ask for changes until they are happy, so there are no surprises about the pattern, the colours or where the edges fall.

10. Who owns the layout design?

Smink Studio retains the intellectual property in every layout design it creates; the client uses the design for their installation. Smink Studio often asks for photographs of finished projects, but always asks permission before using them and credits the design agency, photographer, end client and others involved.

11. Does Smink Studio design multiple options for a project?

Smink Studio begins with a single layout design which is carefully thought through in order to match the client’s brief. They discuss and review the design internally to ensure that it is a design that they can be proud of. The studio then updates and adapts the design according to client feedback. Smink Studio doesn’t prepare multiple designs as this reduces the time available to each project and dilutes the creative focus – designs are prepared by hand and never using AI.