Style Scout: Uson Design Solutions

This store, founded by two childhood friends, brings innovative and eco-friendly tiles to the Twin Cities.

Imaginative shapes and colors are a signature of Minneapolis-based Uson Design Solutions' work.

Image credit: Cody Lidtke

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By: Cy Winship |   February 2011   |  From the print edition

I’m a sucker for a lot of things: original, breathtakingly beautiful design; kind, funny, interesting people; Earth-friendly goods. But I especially love a really good story, which is what I found one day last year when I wandered into the Uson Design Solutions showroom in International Market Square.

I fell in love with the place. I mean, the wall behind the front desk is a giant patterned tile snakeskin made from iridescent 8-inch scales. If you know me, you can imagine how I started to pretty much shake with excitement. And it just kept getting better. On another wall, tile from the same genius company (Kale) offered up more from its Reptile Series: white, black and pink Crocodile tiles in various sizes. It was one of those moments when I think: Oh my god. Finally!

I can’t tell you how tired I am of Tuscan this and slate that. And glass tile? Come on, can’t we be more interesting? Itʼs not 1990 anymore. Furniture design has grown up. Lighting, too. Let’s move into a new, sleek age of tile and fixtures.

Here’s the story on Uson: Two friends grow up in Istanbul together from grade school through college. They go off to American grad schools: Cem Onbasi to DePaul in Chicago and Soner Ustun (figuring out the Uson part right now?) to San Francisco’s Golden Gate University. A few years later, Cem gets a call from Soner in Minneapolis with the news that he’s seeing no stores there selling Vitra tile or fixtures. I mean, Vitra is everywhere in Europe—what’s up with the Twin Cities?

They finally decide to open a showroom right here, for Vitra and any other cool, modern and green products they love. These guys choose goods with the environment in mind, like the Kalesinterflex line of super-strong tile a quarter-inch thick. Its carbon emissions during production are actually 1000 times less than conventional tiles, and they come in all sizes—up to 40” by 120”. Seriously cool for floors, walls, anywhere. And you must see Ecotimber: It looks like the most exotic lacy-patterned hardwood flooring anywhere, and it’s made in Boulder from only re-grown bamboo mixed with reclaimed furniture wood. It’s hard to get cooler, or greener, than that.

The list goes on. Kale—a Turkish company—makes not only the amazing Reptile Series but award-winning lines such as Bond (swirling interlocking tiles), Palm (modern Ottoman chic) and this year’s big design award-winner Cube and Dot. Then there’s Altoglass products from Spain—all recycled (and we’ll back off on condemning glass tile for the moment). On the domestic front, Red Rock Tileworks makes handmade old-style tiles in Illinois.

And then there’s the newest, coolest tile of all: Inax from Japan. Called “breathing” tile, it regulates humidity and absorbs voices. It’s beautiful and modern, and it brings me back to that first moment at Uson when I felt like a little kid again. Their stuff is gorgeous, even sexy. It’s nothing but good that these companies think about the environment. And while the story isn’t strictly local, you have to love the fact that two immigrant childhood friends from Turkey brought it all here to our city. Thanks, guys.