What's New at Alloy

Karim Rashid Anoints Alloy for Hotel Room of the Future

Global design guru Karim Rashid has selected ALLOY Australia's unique stainless steel mosaic tiles to feature in his vision of the ‘Hotel Room of the Future'.

Mr Rashid has been contracted by Dubai-based international interior and hotel specialist Depa United Group to create the Room of the Future at The Hotel Show 2007 to be held in Dubai, UAE from June 3 to 5. Thirty five square metres of the ALLOY 100 x 10 mm stack mirror finish stainless steel mosaic tiles will feature in the much talked about installation.

This is just one of several high profile projects in which Karim Rashid has recently used ALLOY's tiles. Others include the distinctive, award winning Semiramis Hotel in Athens, Greece (20 x 20 mm stainless steel mirror finish mosaic tiles) and the funky Nooch Restaurant in Singapore (20 x 20 mm stainless steel mosaic tile).

"It is very exciting to have our tiles selected by Karim for The Hotel Room of the Future installation and we're extremely proud that he has sought out our unique, Australian made product," says Jonathon.

"His work is always closely followed and we are particularly interested in his ability to create truly distinctive work that focus's on the design language of the future and not the past."

The first company to conceptualise and produce stainless steel mosaic tiles, ALLOY has become an internationally recognised company with a highly distinctive range that includes stainless steel, raw steel, copper and brass tiles in a large variety of sleek finishes and sizes.

The Patio / ALLOY pool

Bound to make every design-conscious Sydney-sider drool, Jamie Durie’s Patio has created what is arguably Sydney’s most stylish pool for Sydney in Bloom.

Spectacularly clad from top to bottom in sparkling ALLOY brushed stainless steel mosaic tiles, Patio’s ‘pool-a-deux’ could only be described in design terms as utterly ‘sexy’ with its sculptural lines and ultra-sleek finish.

“We wanted to create the ultimate ‘outdoor room’ and open people’s minds to the amazing functionality of smaller outdoor spaces,” says Jamie. “The outdoor pool-for-two was designed to carefully match the curves of the body and was created with ALLOY stainless steel tiles in mind. We’ve worked with the tiles before and we love their utilitarian, high-tech, high-quality finish. Plus they’re a world class product designed and made in Australia, which, in itself, is unique.”

Jamie Durie and Patio join a growing list of high-profile ALLOY fans around the world. ALLOY tiles can now be found in exclusive hotels, bars, restaurants, boutiques, offices and homes including those of film director Stephen Spielberg and entertainer Celine Dion.

ALLOY brushed stainless tiles have also been prominently featured on the up-market kitchen set of US TV show Will and Grace, while the cooler-than-thou W Hotel chain has made a spectacular panelled water feature from ALLOY stainless mirrored mosaic in the reception of its Chicago Lakeshore hotel – placing the Perth / Sydney-based company at the pointy end of contemporary design.

In a few short years, ALLOY designer, Perth-born Jonathon Worner, has taken his idea for precision-machined stainless steel tiles, from a local to a rapidly growing, global concern.

Manufactured in Perth, ALLOY tiles are now distributed from Milan to LA. Until ALLOY’s innovative approach, traditional tile manufacturers had been unable to produce high-quality, solid stainless steel tiles successfully – making Jonathon’s product truly unique.

The tiles are now machined in 12 different styles using a combination of sizes, configurations and materials including brass and copper which can be used indoors and outdoors to equally striking effect.

“We have been simply overwhelmed by the demand for the tiles,” says Jonathon. “Their simplicity and cool functionality have struck a chord with the design-conscious market and it’s very exciting.”

::ALLOY Dives Into Design With Ian Thorpe

When pearl-baron Rosario Autore wanted a high profile Aussie male to be the face and style of his range of unisex pearl chokers, he turned to swimming’s golden boy Ian Thorpe. He worked with Thorpe to create the Ian Thorpe Collection, a unique range of edgy, urban designs which incorporated the beautiful South Sea pearls for which Autore has become known internationally.

When Autore went in search of beautifully designed, high quality packaging that would reflect the stylish sentiment of the Ian Thorpe Collection, he turned to Jonathon Worner at ALLOY. After scouring the world for just the right manufacturer, Autore looked to ALLOY to deliver a unique package crafted from stainless steel.

Developed in consultation with Thorpe himself, ALLOY came up with a simple round, hinged design which, when opened out, looks suspiciously like a pair of swimming goggles.

“We wanted to develop something that was sleek and masculine but didn’t take itself too seriously,” says Jonathon Worner. “It was also important that the packaging had a quality weight to it. It certainly has a seductively, cool texture about it. Almost the same smooth sensation as rolling a pearl between your fore-finger and your thumb.”

Finished off with Ian Thorpe’s rambling signature engraved on the lid, the stainless steel container is then housed in a silver-grey draw-string Lycra bag. Any reference to Thorpe’s famous swimming costume is purely deliberate and certainly gives the image of the seriously staid pearl a nice, witty twist.

Since developing the packaging for the Thorpe Collection, which will be distributed around the world, Autore has asked ALLOY to design the packaging for the rest of the prestigious and highly sought-after Autore collection.

::ALLOY In Line For Ian Schrager’s Hotel Empire

If there is a king of the hip hotel, the anointed one is Ian Schrager. His quirky, ultra cool hotel refurbishments set the standard for boutique hotels and design around the world.

Often working in collaboration with design demi-god Phillipe Starck, hotels such as the Mondrian, Soho Grand and Paramount in New York, the Delano in Florida and St Martin’s Lane in London, have taken hotel design to a new level for a new breed of design-literate jet-set seeking more than just another beige suite at an international 4-star hotel chain.

Schrager’s latest and much anticipated re-development is The Empire Hotel on West 63rd street in the heart of New York. Schrager Hotels’ designers have selected ALLOY’s high quality stainless steel mosaic tiles for the Empire Hotel fit-out, ordering a large quantity to create a prototype for a radical new interior.

“We are absolutely thrilled at the prospect of working with Schrager Hotels,” says Jonathon Worner, designer and Managing Director of ALLOY, “it’s very exciting and goes to show that you don’t have to design and manufacture in the US or Europe to make an impact there. It’s creativity and innovation that are important, not location. Australian products are really at the forefront of the international design market”.

The interest from Schrager Hotels places ALLOY tiles at the razor sharp, pointy end of international design with the sophisticated W Hotel’s use of the mirrored mosaic tiles as a panelled wall / water feature in the foyer of its Chicago Lakeshore digs.

::ALLOY! It’s Will & Grace

ALLOY stainless steel tiles are the latest addition to the irreverent American sitcom Will & Grace. The Australian designed and made product is featured on the stylish, up-market set.

Spotted by the show’s Los Angeles-based set designers in high profile design store and ALLOY distributor Ann Sacks, Alloy’s unique, brushed stainless steel mosaic tiles have been installed on the contemporary kitchen splash-back of the set to reflect the modern style of the show’s interior designer lead character, Grace Adler (played by Debra Messing).

With ALLOY tiles now being distributed around the world, the precision-machined product has created a strong and growing demand in boutique interiors worldwide and can be found in exclusive hotels, bars, restaurants, boutiques, offices and homes.
The clean, utilitarian lines of ALLOY tiles have also caught the eye of director Stephen Speilberg and Canadian singer Celine Dion who are among many of the discerning ALLOY clients who now have the stainless steel tiles featured in their homes.

“We have been simply overwhelmed by the demand for the stainless steel mosaic tiles,” says Jonathon Worner, the designer and driving force behind ALLOY. “Their simplicity and cool functionality have struck a chord with the design-conscious market and it’s very exciting.”

Worner’s fascination with the utilitarian nature of stainless steel inspired him to create ALLOY tiles, a product which, until his approach, traditional tile manufacturers have unsuccessfully tried to produce at a high quality level. The tiles are now machined in 12 different styles using a combination of sizes, configurations and materials and are distributed around the world.