Hexagon Mosaic Tile

Why a hexagon absorbs a mixture

A square grid has continuous lines running in two directions, and any change of stone reads against those lines as an interruption to something regular.

A hexagon field has no continuous line anywhere in it, because three pieces meet at every corner and the junctions never align. With no regular structure to interrupt, a change of color or stone lands as one more irregularity in a field that was already irregular.

The blends this range carries

Multicolor is the second largest color group here after white, and the series names include a patchwork, a multi finish group and named stones sitting alongside each other: Bardiglio, Emperador, Noce, Chiaro, Silver and Opalo.

Those are grays, browns, creams and whites appearing in the same range and frequently in the same sheet. Hexagon tile and mosaic takes the shape into field tile as well, where a mixed field is far harder to bring off.

Multi finish, which is a different mixture

A multi finish group sits here too, meaning one stone supplied with some pieces polished, some honed and some tumbled within a single product.

Because a finish changes how a surface returns light, the same marble in three finishes reads as three tones. On a hexagon that becomes a blend without introducing a second stone at all, which is the quietest version of the effect.

Two thicknesses, two products

The thickness figures split sharply: a large group at 13/64 of an inch and a second at 3/8, with very little between them.

Those are two different families. The thin sheets are glass and thin-bodied material; the 3/8 inch ones are cut stone. They look related on a screen and they will not finish flush against each other, which matters because a hexagon band set into another material is one of the commonest uses for these sheets.

Polished and honed, almost level

Polished slightly leads honed here, with multi finish, matte, textured and an anti-slip piece behind them.

On a shape with this much cut edge per square foot, a polished sheet returns light from every facet and the surface glitters. A honed one gives up the glitter and lets the outline of the hexagons carry the whole thing. Which is right depends on whether the shape or the stone is meant to lead.

Sheet dimensions and the interlock

The sheets here run 11 3/4x11 1/2, 10 3/8x12, 12x12, 12x16 1/3 and 11 5/8x12 3/8, which is a spread rather than a standard.

A hexagon field has a toothed outline by nature, so a rectangular sheet is trimmed out of it and the dimensions land wherever the trim falls. The teeth of one sheet have to meet the gaps of the next rather than butting against them, which is the part that repays attention.

Where a hexagon mosaic goes

A bathroom floor, a powder room, a shower pan, a niche, a backsplash and a panel set into a plain field.

It suits a small room better than a large one, since the repeat is only a few inches across and a small floor still shows dozens of complete shapes. Mosaic tile holds the other shapes cut the same way.