Concrete Tiles at Kuca Fotografa

When Boris Kajmak, a Croatian artist and designer, found Kuca Fotografa, it had been empty for many years. He decided to bring it back to life by restoring its charm and preserving its original features, using local materials and elements of contemporary design. We were drawn to many elements, but one of the most interesting features was the juxtaposition of wood floors and cement tiles that dress the upstairs bedroom/tub.

Boris shared with us his design inspiration and the journey that led him to this one of a kind flooring choice: “One of the things I fell in love since moving to Rome were Cementine floors. However, using reclaimed and re-appropriated materials in this house, I was on the mission to find the old, original ones.

"Since I wanted to combine them with oak flooring cut out of old structural beams, I decided an optic, hexagram design with longer sides would suit the cut. After a month long, if not longer, browsing the likes of Italian eBay and similar, I spotted the right ones. The problem with reclaimed materials is that one has to proof them him/herself. This made me detour my journey for 750km to personally pick them. New composition of old wood, old tiles and old bathtub made it all worth it, I believe.”

At the turn of the century, these concrete made tiles were incredibly popular and often a flooring choice in the houses of the richer layer of society. They are still to be found decorating floors all across Italy. Even more so, they are so popular that, luckily for us, the production of the new ones is increasing.

To book a stay at Kuca Fotografa, click here.

Photographs by Tom de Gay