Launched at Milan Design week in April 2026, GridWork is the outcome of a creative collaboration between Australian engineered timber masters, Tongue & Groove, and international partners Raw Edges and Established & Sons. Composed of engineered European oak and precision crafted with unique interlocking edges, the result is modular and modern, echoing ceramic tile yet with the warmth and tactile qualities of timber.
Inspired by the Bauhaus movement, with its elevation of simple grids in stone, clay and terrazzo, GridWork also references modernist architecture with its emphasis on clean lines and a seamless connection between people and places. The interlocking system enables designers to explore texture, colour and directionality, shaping zoning, wayfinding and visual effects.
“Flooring has never given designers the opportunity to express their creativity like this,” says Richard Karsay, CEO and founder of Tongue & Groove.
“This new direction allows designers to add a personal touch by playing with colour, pattern and grain direction. It’s about having fun with flooring and pushing its boundaries.”
Designers Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer from Raw Edges, have taken traditions in ceramics and reinterpreted them for the warmth, tactility and textural nature of European oak.
“You have tiles in simple 15 × 15 modernist grids – but not in wood,” says Shay Alkalay, co-founder of Raw Edges with Yael Mer.
“With ceramic tiles, you see endless imitations of wood. We thought it was about time wood returned the favour. It’s one of the simplest designs we’ve ever done, but there’s something bold in that simplicity.”
Tongue & Groove produce GridWork tiles using the company’s unique three-layer solid European oak construction. Each block is hand-stained in a curated palette of warm, neutral tones across nine colours ranging from light to dark. The formulation of the dye also penetrates below the surface finish of the timber, ensuring a robust result that still preserves the distinctive beauty of the oak grain.
A precision-engineered chamfer between each timber block echoes the grout lines of a ceramic tile and enables the creation of seamlessly interlocking flooring approach. The innovative connection system developed for GridWork allows the blocks to be laid in multiple orientations, enabling designers to create patterns using grain, colour, or both.
GridWork launched at Milan Design Week in March 2026 and will be launching in Australia during winter 2026.
This is the second collection by the collaborative partnership between Raw Edges, Tongue & Groove and Establishment & Sons, following the success of the debut collaboration, Wall to Wall.
The partnership is truly a synergy of talent and expertise.
Tongue & Groove are a leading Australian producer of solid-engineered European oak flooring, while Established & Sons are an iconic British design brand, and Raw Edges is a London-based design studio led by Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer.
Under the partnership arrangement, Tongue & Groove will manufacture and distribute all Established & Sons timber flooring collections worldwide, while Raw Edges leads the creative direction for future designs.
“We saw an opportunity to combine our strengths,” says Karsay. “Our three brands share values and have a beautiful synergy. Together, we are going to create amazing collections and share them with the world.”