Bronze Building Materials and Construction Components Design · 2021
Puzzle Polyurethane Wall Tile
- A' Design Award 2021 Bronze Winner in Building Materials and Construction Components Design
- Awarded April 15, 2021
- CLIENT: NOËL & MARQUET by NMC
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 23,516
- Verification code 94323DB445 · Verify this award
About Puzzle Polyurethane Wall Tile
The Puzzle tile has a pure and stylized form and a contemporary look. Thanks to its features of 3D design the tile can be placed in 4 ways, which provides a spectrum of possibilities. It can be freely combined to create a variety of abstract, geometric patterns playing with the changing light. The tiles can be installed as an accent in the space or cover the entire wall surface. Painting of some tiles in different colors can diversify the compositions. The Puzzle tiles are suitable for a range of interiors – utility, office or home spaces.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The tile is designed with a pure, contemporary, creative, and elegant form in mind. Thanks to its specific 3D design, the tile gives possibility to create almost unlimited compositions on the wall. Elements can be freely combined, creating abstract, geometric forms in addition to using different colors and can be applied in both utility and home interiors. 25 possible assemble schemes based on 8x8 Puzzle wall tiles are readily available for end-client inspiration.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- H: 38 cm, W: 38 cm, T: 3.1 cm
- Tags
- wall tile, wall element, 3D, polyurethane, home and living, pattern design, geometric forms
- Production Technology
- Puzzle is manufactured as Puzzle Arstyl (R) under the brand NOËL and MARQUET by the company NMC, based in Belgium. The product is made from Polyurethane foam , which is covered by final primer to make the models ready to be painted in whatever color the user prefers, before installation. The finished product is impact-resistant, durable, lightweight and easy to install.
- Design Challenge
- The creative challenge and fascination during the design development process was to create one single element which can provide many options of usage. As contemporary design loves 3D elements, another important point for the final product was to avoid any similarity to existing ones.
- Project Duration
- The project started as an individual project from April to the end of July 2020 in Sofia, Bulgaria and was developed for production by NMC's engineering from July 2020 to December 2020 in Raeren, Belgium.
- Operation Flow
- Puzzle lets all designers and architects apply their creativity fully due to its versatility. The designers can make projects with different wall textures and surfaces by playing with the positions of the product and combination between several tiles. Puzzle can be used both across a complete wall, as well as to create a stand-alone panel focal point for the interior space. Puzzle can be installed very easily just by gluing to the walls with adhesives.
- Research
- In the process of research several parameters were adjusted concerning the sizes of the tile in order to find the suitable dimensions, which will best fit walls in different spaces and interiors. The thickness of the tile - height of the relief, was adjusted as well to find out the appropriate one for the visual conception. Project was developed by 3D modeling and experimental gypsum models.
- Inspiration
- Puzzle was inspired by the pure geometric forms of truncated pyramid for its shape and by probability theory for the almost countless compositions possible.
- Image Credits
- Image #1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Noël & Marquet / NMC-Belgium
- Patents
- Patented. Patent No9007/2020. Patent Holder Kamelia Terzieva Year 2020. Jurisdiction Bulgaria.
Copyrights Noël & Marquet / NMC-Belgium, Kamelia Terzieva
Colors of Puzzle Polyurethane Wall Tile
Design Interview about Puzzle Polyurethane Wall Tile
Puzzle was inspired by pure geometric forms of truncated pyramid, probability theory and the idea to make a tile with the versatility to create various wall compositions.
I wanted to challenge myself and focus on a product design still fitting within the architectural space. I'm happy that NMC Belgium, a company with more than 70 year history, appreciated my design's qualities and decided to produce it as part of their prestigious product range.
The tile is under production with NMC Belgium and I hope that it will grace many companies' spaces and people's homes.
From first idea through experimentation phase to concept finalization took about 12 weeks. The technical teams of the production company took a few more months to bring the tile to life in the right materials.
I followed my inspiration
The tile is in production by NMC Belgium.
The interior design trend, which is looking for a constant reinvention of wall surfaces.
From architects and design studios, all the way to end customers
Combining the tiles freely, clients can create a huge variety of abstract geometric forms which give different textures suitable for office and public spaces, or home interiors.
I was inspired by the versatility of the design and the countless combinations which were possible to create just using that tile, like a puzzle that has many variations. That's why I chose to name it Puzzle.
Sketching, drawing, SketchUp, LayOut etc
The versatility and combinability of the design are its most unique feature. With just one style of tile, the Puzzle, it's possible to create almost unlimited compositions on the wall.
I worked alone during the whole design concept phase. In regards to materials and production dimensions, I worked in collaboration with NMC's technical teams.
Technology plays an important part in the design process - from finetuning the conceptualization via digital tools, to ensuring the best production quality during the manufacturing phase.
A fun part of research was trying to calculate how many different combinations can be made with a few Puzzle tiles only. Since every tile can be placed in 4 different ways, there's more different compositions possible than anyone can ever use!
Actually the realization was not complicated due to the technical support of the production company.
As I have participated already in other international design contests and received a prize for interior design, I decided to face the challenge in a product design competition. Entering the prestigious A'Design Awards competition was then a natural step.
I learned a lot about materials, which can be used and further technological details about the production process.
Grand Interview about Puzzle Polyurethane Wall Tile
Pure geometric forms are a foundation of many interior styles. However even a slight change in a shape's construct often leads to unexpectedly good results and new possibilities. So my creative research always starts there, searching to enhance a shape through a new perspective and give it a fresh, unexpected look.
My goal for each design is that it is aesthetically valuable, highly useful to the consumer and triggers their imagination - probabilities and the possibility to combine Puzzle in multiple ways is an opportunity for every client to exercise their creative impulse.
The strict functionality which is a characteristic feature of civil engineering helps me in my work as a designer, to focus not only on the product and interior's look & feel, but to lay as a foundation from the start a harmonic and cohesive marriage of function and vision.
There are almost countless ways to combine Puzzle into very diverse compositions, so that allows designers and architects to really express their own - or their clients' - unique style. I anticipate that every professional will take advantage of all those opportunities that the design offers and I'm certain that I'll be pleasantly surprised by many creative solutions.
I did research on available solutions on the market. Since the design was meant for wall decoration purposes, I aligned its dimensions to the most frequently applied interior spaces height, while the relief surface achieved a play of lights and shadows enriching the space.
My knowledge of the manufacturing company's production processes and raw materials guided my choice of material to best suit Puzzle's design. Polyurethane is a material that is light, durable and at the same time greatly serves the geometric shapes forming Puzzle.
The idea of versatility was embedded from the beginning and served as foundation for the rest of the development. That made the road from inspiration to the final design fairly smooth. At the same time it was endlessly interesting to explore throughout the creative process how that versatility could be best expressed and offer the largest range of possibilities for the customer.
The ability to color Puzzle's surface is of big importance, as applying a different palette enriches the whole interior vision and offers much more diverse opportunities / diverse solutions than a fixed-finish surface products.
The process of adapting the initial design to the final one ready for manufacturing was actually relatively easy and not too time-consuming, since the parameters were already close to the manufacturing capabilities of the factory that I was already familiar with, which meant only minor changes were necessary.
Applying Puzzle breaks up any notion of a 'boring' space and offers so many possibilities to create your own distinctive interior style, which is a more and more essential requirement and trend in design.