This ‘Modern Breeze Block’ Trend Is Everywhere Right Now — From Kitchen Islands to Room Dividers
What do you envisage when you hear ‘breeze block’? For me, it’s always had connotations of ugly, oversized bricks in the most depressing gray color you can imagine. However, in interior design right now, there’s a bit of a love affair happening with the breeze block — but they’re not like
There are, actually, a few different ways that modern breeze blocks are manifesting as an interior design trend, but there’s one particular style that’s popping up time and time again in projects. It’s a terracotta brick, with a distinctive V-shape, and once you notice it, chances are, like me, you’ll see it everywhere.
However, if you’re not in the design world, it’s a little tricky to find out about this block, and figure out how you can get your hands on it. However, I’ve done the work in tracking it down and finding out a little more about this modern breeze block. So, here’s what you need to know about it.
Mutina
Celosia by Patricia Urquiola
Designed by Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola for tile brand Mutina, a frequent collaborator, Celosia makes for an interesting architectural statement. It’s available to source in the UK through Domus Tiles.
“I adore the use of these terracotta breeze blocks,” Australian interior designer Tim Neve tells me. “I love how they introduce a geometric patterning, but are executed in an imperfect, handmade natural format,” the designer adds.
So, what do you need to know about these modern breeze blocks? “They are rated as non-structural, so I’ve used them as a decorative feature instead,” Tim explains.
While this design doesn’t come in other forms or colorways, it does have profile edgings in the collection, meaning you have a top and side edging available to ‘finish off’ something like a room divider design properly.
It’s this that makes this block such a versatile addition to your decor, and interior designers have been putting them to good use. Here are just a few ideas for how these breeze blocks can be used.
1. A Kitchen Island
For his Hipwell Haus project, Tim used these modern breeze blocks as a recurring motif.
(Image credit: Atelier Photography. Design: Tim Neve)
In a kitchen filled with brilliant and bold ideas, the base of this kitchen island is a standout. It’s a clever use of the breeze block, as it’s not structural, but looks like it is.
“The warmth of the terracotta tones is just divine,” Tim, who designed the kitchen, says. It brings another interesting texture to a space painted in limewash, dark timber, and an exhilarating marble, while keeping in the same color story.
2. A TV Wall
This instance of the breeze blocks have been finished with the edging tiles.
(Image credit: Nicole England. Design: Studio Minosa)
The blocks may be used for another kitchen island here in this apartment by Studio Minosa (this time framed with the matching edging), but it’s also been used as a finish for the TV wall surround, as designer Darren Genner explained.
In this instance, “the breeze blocks had been incorporated as the exterior of the building is clad in a terracotta block similar,” Darren says, “The client loves the exterior of the apartment complex and wanted the interior to reflect its “place” with in it.”
3. A Room Divider
This room divider solved a flaw in this space’s layout.
(Image credit: Valerie Wilcox. Design: Lisa Lev Design and Studio Sonny)
The resulting texture of a wall built with these breeze blocks creates a fixed divide, but with sightlines through that can help a space keep its open concept qualities.
In this home designed by Lisa Lev Design and Studio Sonny, a breeze block room divider was also the answer to an awkward living room layout. “The divider resolved a spatial challenge created by the optimal furniture layout; where the sectional sofa extended beyond the length of the wall,” Katelyn Rempel, founder of Studio Sonny, explains. “The breeze block provided an intentional boundary that defined the space, added a focal point from the hallway, and maintained the room’s openness.” In this instance, this block was a bit of a triple threat.
4. In the Bathroom
(Image credit: Valerie Wilcox. Design: Lisa Lev Design and Studio Sonny)
This rough, textured surface isn’t necessarily what you’d expect to find in a modern bathroom, but I’ve seen a few instances of the Celosia terracotta blocks being used in this setting, including in Tim Neve’s bathroom, seen at the start of this article.
In the home designed by Lisa Lev and Katelyn Rempel, the blocks have been used inset into a timber frame, as another sort of room divider for the bathroom. “The application in the ensuite offers privacy by the toilet while ensuring continuity of materiality throughout the home,” Katelyn says. It’s a great match for the rest of the bathroom too, where different styles of terracotta tiles have been used to interesting effect.
It’s certainly a case in point where a design is so special and so unique, you can’t help but spot it’s use out there in the world, and I’ve seen this use of modern breeze blocks in projects more than almost every other kind put together. It’s a bit like the glass block trend in that it’s such a dramatic use of material that you’ll either love it or hate it, but with it’s raw, rustic, and undeniably fun looks, for me, it definitely falls into the former.
Terracotta Accents to Get the Look
La Redoute
Mannira Cement Fibre Side Table
It may look like terracotta, but it’s actually lightweight cement fibre, making it easier to move this side table around.
Next
Terracotta Chalford Table Lamp
This budget-friendly Next lamp captures the unfinished character of this terracotta breeze blocks.
A more contemporary take on terracotta that brings sleek, modern sensibilities to the material.
