Golen's Gorgeous Jugenstile Tiles

Berlin's Hackesche Höfe is a series of nine interconnected courtyards and their surrounding buildings. The unusual tile-covered facades in the first courtyard add color, pattern and a festive ambiance.

One of the shops in one of the courtyards, Golem, sells gorgeous Jugenstile tiles and provided tiles for the restoration of these facades.

I like the drama of these Golem tiles, both for their peacock reference and watercolor effect. They seem to have a bit of an Egyptian feel to me and would love to see these in a bathroom...maybe my bathroom.

Or, ahhh, perhaps these:

The shop offers quite a variety of lovely designs and colors.

Beautiful!

They also have some delightful floor patterns. I like this sampler and would be thrilled to have it in my laundry room. Durable, long-lasting ceramic tiles seem to make a lot of sense when we are trying to reduce our use of synthetic materials and toxic chemicals. I appreciate good design and I like change; admittedly, I sometimes move furniture around or buy things just for a change. However, I also like the attitude in much of Europe to build substantial buildings and to not destroy them when they go out of 'fashion' or when some company wants to build a chain store that looks like every other one of their stores across the country. There is something satisfying—as well as green—about building quality and enjoying it for a long, long time.