About
Who we are.
Raven is the European Japanese Tile Specialist; curating tiles from Japans finest Ceramicists.
Based in London, we work with a broad spectrum of Japanese manufacturers, ranging from small family-owned businesses with only a few employees to one of Japans largest corporations, LIXIL ($5bn USD annual turnover).
The History of our Tiles.
Japanese Ceramic production entered its golden age in the 16th Century with military commanders being gifted tea sets; the higher the quality of ceramic/glaze, the greater the honour and social standing. The competition for the best commanders resulted in innovation and skills in the master craftsmen of the time that are still evident in the tiles we offer today.
Quality Matters!
There are two parts to any tile; the body, which is made from clay and the surface glaze. The type of clay and the way it’s fired are crucial to the final quality of the tile - strength, durability, and frost resistance. Our tiles are produced using the finest clays, most of them in the ‘Porcelain’ class and are suitable for outdoor use and will remain looking wonderful long after the building around them fades.
The character comes from the glaze and a common feature in our tiles is the traditional Japanese aesthetic, Wabi-Sabi, the beauty of imperfection. For the tile glaze, this means the patterns, colours and textures are developed naturally in the kiln during the firing phase. Even though all the tiles receive the same wet glaze, the position within the oven will create natural variation rather than a flat modern factory finish. We see some extreme examples of this in the ancient “Yohen” kiln that some of our producers still use. The mixture of natural glaze ingredients results in truly dramatic effects, which are then individually sorted by hand and mounted manually to produce stunning mosaic sheets.
Curation.
The choice of tiles from Japan is almost endless and we take great pride in presenting you only the very finest. We have a catalogue of around 650 variations and stock 350 of them as samples. We hold bulk stock in Europe of around 50 variations, ready to be shipped to your projects. For styles not held in European stock, we offer a quarterly shipment from Japan and can coordinate custom designs or glazes for larger projects.
Raven is a family-owned business with a focus on genuine customer service, here to assist with your next project.
Ian Reynolds
Director
Raven is a brand of Solveig Ltd, 85 Portland Street, London, W1W 7LT. Reg England 9471489, which is wholly owned by Ian and Marion Reynolds, who operates the company.