A treasure trove of tiles made the traditional way

Down an East London street punctuated with cool workspaces and old industrial buildings and studios, you’ll find Bert & May, the tile specialists.

Bert & May are famous for their authentic designs, natural colour palette and eye for reclaiming tiles and furniture from years gone by. Visiting their studio is truly inspiring – unlike your run-of-the-mill tile shop, everything is carefully selected and displayed with intention and style.

Helping you discover and carefully explain each and every treasure is Lee Thornley, founder of Bert & May. Lee talks amongst the team with bubbling enthusiasm about an upcoming shop display. He and the team are passionate about their flawless, yet earthy design aesthetic.

Thought and precision underpin the Bert & May brand. Each encaustic tile is handmade in the traditional and authentic Spanish way, with every step in the production process finished by hand and the final product dried in natural sunlight. This unique and attentive process gives every tile a beautiful finish, as if it’s been plucked straight from an ancient building in Spain.

As well as their iconic tiles, Bert & May houses wooden flooring, beautiful chalky paints and reclaimed homewares such as tables and mirrors. Lee has also just diversified into a new venture, Bert’s Barge. This quaint floating hotel gives you the chance to live the B&M way on Hackney’s Regent’s Canal. It’s the ultimate scandi-style escape aboard a tidy little boat. Decorated with minimalism in mind, you have everything that you could ever need for a weekend of luxury, in an unlikely place.

Are you passionate about great tiles? Tell us where you’ve found some treasures in the comments below.