Products with a Soul, Touching People

What springs to mind when you think of the word ‘tiles’? For many consumers, tiles are limited to white regular squares of interlocking ceramic that will fit in innocuously to any bathroom or kitchen design. Ho hum. Thank goodness for MNO who have upped the anti and are adding some splash to the splashboard with their colorful designs.

MNO is Ben Oostrum and Jan Melis who founded the design studio, which is based in Rotterdam. Although tiles are an integral part of the collection, MNO also produce lighting, furniture, and accessories. Simple and clean shapes in orange, bright green, magenta, or pure white, are modern and functional. Modular shapes fit together to form objects as needed.

Their motto is “Products with a soul, touching people,” based on the beliefs that through the use of tactile materials and pleasing shapes or colors, their designs will generate a positive environment. MNO has worked with a selection of establishments including a psychiatric facility, the College of Communication & Multimedia Design in Rotterdam, and KPMG Rotterdam, to draw a refreshing energy to communal spaces within these larger institutions.

MNO’s newest tile designs, PWS and W32, are named after two infamous computer viruses. The PWS is a modular relief tile with raised oblong and circular shapes while the W32 uses five different tiles to create a wide variety of patterns, including the alphabet. Monogrammed tiles are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to personalized designs. Take your favorite picture or photograph and imagine having it displayed as a mosaic on your bathroom wall. The principal is the same as those picture puzzles, the ones where you slide blocks over a grid to form an image, each tile containing a portion of the final picture.

So the next time your customers are out shopping for new bathroom fittings, just remember that although white goes with everything, why not try something new to revitalize your space. After all, isn’t a change is as good as a rest?

—Morwenna White