The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing is right around the corner and we’ve been celebrating this monumental event in conjunction with our favorite surface material.
What’s the connection between the moon and ceramic tile? Well, to start with, a ceramic tile is believed to be the first piece of art that travelled to the moon. Artists Forrest Myers, Andy Warhol, David Novros, Claes Oldenburg, John Chamberlain, and Robert Rauschenberg collaborated to create a series of tiny tiles using drawings from each of the artists. Myers claims one of these tiles was secretly attached to the next spacecraft headed for the moon (Apollo 12), where astronauts left it behind along with other personal effects.
But that’s not the only connection! While it’s been almost 50 years since man brought tile to the moon, tile designs continue to reflect the textures and patterns we witnessed through the historic moon landing. Shades of gray, soft textures, and galactic patterns shine just as brightly in our homes as they do in the night sky, lighting up our interior decor with trending “moon looks.”
To give you an idea of what we mean, here are our favorite tile moon looks from Instagram.
Terrazzo-Look Tile
The moon is covered with impact craters, dead volcanoes, and lava flows, which produce the moon’s distinctive light and dark spots. The speckles in popular terrazzo-look ceramic tile — which resemble chips of granite, quartz, marble, glass, and other materials — create a visual texture that’s strikingly similar to that of the moon.
Distressed Tile
We often hear that the moon’s surface is “marred” by craters, volcanoes, and hardened lava. The distressed tile in the image above proves that irregularities can be beautiful. The weathered, moon-like texture of these wall tiles adds a stunning visual interest to the bathroom’s minimalist design.
Dimensional Tile
These dimensional hexagon tiles bring to mind the moon’s surface, especially how the shadows play off the angles of the tiles to create varying shades of white and gray.
Concrete-Look Tile
While the moon looks white to us during the day and mostly yellow at night, high-resolution photos show that the moon is actually gray. The washed out gray shade of this concrete-look ceramic tile is the perfect reference for the moon’s true color.
(Apparently, the moon’s surface material even shares some of the same properties as concrete: U.S. researchers believe that we could use moon dust to mix a concrete substitute for the construction of a moon base. Cool.)
Slate-Look Tile
Slate-look tile also exhibits the perfect gray shade of the moon, plus its soft color variations. Another similarity between the slate color and the moon? Slate is often derived from volcanic ash and the moon is covered in plains of hardened lava.
Wood-Look Tile
The spacy swirls of wood grain in this gray and tan wood-look ceramic tile look stellar. Thankfully, the room has a view of the water to remind us we’re on Earth!
Marble-Look Tile
These gauged porcelain tile slabs have a marble look that was installed with minimal grout lines. Oversized gray veining gives this tile an otherworldly look, transporting us from the bathroom to the very surface of the moon.
As you can see, one small step with versatile ceramic tile can be one giant leap for your home decor! Gazing at the moon tonight may prove inspiring, so visit our Moon Landing Pinterest board for additional out-of-this-world designs.
