Johnson Tiles is the largest UK manufacturer of ceramic wall and floor tiles. Many of its products are produced in Stoke-on-Trent and elsewhere in Europe. Constantly producing new designs, keeping an eye on design trends and ensuring the technology is right for the marketplace are just three ways that this award-winning company keeps ahead.

Supplying tiles throughout the world the business produces tile designs for all market areas. It works closely with architects and designers to assist them with product specification. Providing both technical advisory and design advisory services, Johnson Tiles has supplied products to for all types of building projects including office development, private housing, social housing, cafes, restaurants, hotels, shopping malls, public transport facilities and leisure facilities.

Material Lab is the surface decoration resource centre located in London at 10 Great Titchfield Street, Monday through Friday. This studio has been designed by designers for designers as a place they can see and compare samples whilst working on project development. It’s not a conventional showroom, it’s a design centre complete with computer access for architects and designers to upload their work and interact with products. A series of seminars and networking events are staged at the centre throughout the year.

Both Johnson Tile’s product range and extensive experience help it cover all aspects of the public and private specification market, from architects and designers to housebuilders and contractors. Offering a wide array of ceramic, porcelain, glass and mosaic tiles including the well-known Prismatics, Kerastar, Minton Hollins and the Absolute ranges, specifiers will find everything they need.

Johnson Tiles has a product within it’s portfolio that suits any area in any building. It accomplishes this with a diverse selection, high tech production systems and a committed, published environmental strategy and works closely with its clients throughout the world, in partnership, to help provide effective solutions to design problems.

The Absolute and Kerastar ranges of floor tiles include a large selection of slip resistant tiles, suited perfectly for changing and shower areas. While the prestigious Minton Hollins range features classic Victorian and fireplace tile designs that are authentically reproduced. Johnson Tiles also provides fittings and tiles for swimming pools and provides specifiers with advice on the best product to use in pools.

Taking advantage of the latest high-tech ink jet printing technology allows Johnson Tiles to decorate wall and floor tiles with replicating natural stones and marbles that are so lifelike that many can’t tell the difference once installed. The special Artile digital transfer process creates images on tiles —whether they are of an oil painting, family photo, replication of a natural material or graphic design. Specifiers and designers are now using the process to create major murals and tile decoration schemes for public areas such as underpasses in addition to interior features.

Johnson Tiles has embraced another exciting technology, water jet cutting. This computer controlled system essentially produces patterns, allowing specifiers to put words or letters and logos, into floors and wall tiling areas. The technique is also used to produce murals covering a small interior panel up to a major public mural.

While Johnson Tiles maintains a keen eye on breakthroughs in both the development of new design trends and new manufacturing technology, it also has always considered environmental management to be an integral and fundamental part of its business strategy. It is committed to making sure it complies with all the latest U.K. and European legislation and other standards that affect its activities, now and as they change.

For more than a decade, it has had a formal environmental policy and rigorously following it has meant the company has received many awards and accolades. It has been recognised in both 2008 and 2009 as one of the Best Green Companies by The Sunday Times, coming in at number 27 and 25, respectively.

In addition, Johnson Tiles has received ISO9001 and ISO14001 accreditation, meaning its quality systems and procedures as well as its environmental management system has been recognised by the assessment body BSI (British Standards). It also received The Queen’s Award for Environmental Achievement in 1997 recognising its ceramic waste recycling scheme.

Every tile produced in its Stoke-on-Trent factory has at least 25% fired waste content. This fired waste is delivered to the production site, ground up and then reused to create new tiles. The scheme involves 15 other local ceramics factories in North Staffordshire and saves more than 10,000 tonnes of ceramic waste going into local landfills every year.