Newtown, Australia
When Denby Dowling of Denby Dowling Interiors approached Yukino about their upcoming ImPossible House project in 2021 looking for highest quality tiles that are both traditional and sustainable in Japan, Yukino could not think of a more suitable tile than Kamedani tiles.
Established in 1806, Kamedani Tiles have been creating Sekishu-Kawara tiles using old traditional techniques. All tiles are still made by hand and baked under maximum temperature of 1350 degrees Celsius. Due to the use of this unique method using extreme temperature, tiles can withstand wide variety of conditions. Tiles can only contain pure materials of local clay and kimachi stone for glaze, to withstand the extreme high temperature used during the firing process. With this durability in various conditions, Kamedani tiles were the perfect choice for the three areas within the ImPossible House – bathroom, kitchen and outdoor patio.
But it was not just the durability that highlighted the Kamedani tiles, it was also the focus on tradition and sustainability. As well as using traditional methods to create these inimitable tiles, Kamedani tiles take pride in their practices to reduce their environmental impact throughout their lifecycle, from production to disposal, and contribute to a more sustainable and eco-friendly building industry. With the main focus on sustainability and its strict criteria, the ImPossible House would not have incorporated Kamedani tiles half-heartedly.
Once the tiles were chosen, the next challenge was creating the perfect colour for the Impossible House colour scheme.
As Kamedani tiles only use natural materials, producing a colour to suit a particular project requires many months of experimenting with trial-and-error. Using a colour pallet as a guide, we worked closely (virtually between Japan and Sydney) with the master artisan, Mr Kamedani, and created three varying colours like no other – glazed blue that shines with reflection of light, perfect for the wet areas in the bathroom against the natural light; matt green that absorbs the reflection and tones down the extreme weather conditions in the outdoor patio; and the classical Kamedani kimachi red that is naturally created by the melting of kimachi stones during the firing process, the colour that changes from bright red to almost black depending on light and angle.
We worked timelessly on building a connection, a bridge, between the ImPossible House in Newtown and Mr Kamedani in Shimane, Japan. And after 3 long years, 8200 beautifully hand-created Kamedani tiles made in a small town of Shimane in Japan were transported 8000kms to be given a life within one of the most sustainable houses built in inner suburb of Sydney.
Designer: Denby Dowling interiors
Project : ImPossible House