Our new collection — a glass mosaic handcrafted in Spain from 100% recycled glass — brings coastal color to pools, spas, and water features.
Glass pool tile is how you decide what the water will look like — its color, its depth, the way light settles on the surface. Glass holds color beautifully and reads differently wet than dry, so a mosaic finish gives a pool life that a plain plaster shell can’t. Maris, our glass mosaic handcrafted in Spain from 100% recycled glass, brings that effect to pools, spas, and water features in three coastal colorways — The Shallows, Salt Mist, and Breaker — a more considered, more sustainable way to shape the surface you’ll live beside.
Stand at the edge of a pool before anyone gets in. The water already has a mood — silvered and cool at dawn, deep and inviting at midday, almost ink at dusk. Most of that mood comes from a single decision made long before the first swim: the surface underneath. The water is clear. It takes its color, its depth, and its sense of movement from what it covers.
That thinking is the starting point for Maris, our newest collection — a glass mosaic handcrafted in Spain from 100% recycled glass, made for pools, spas, water features, and wellness spaces. Named from the Latin for of the sea and drawn from the Mediterranean, it’s a new, more sustainable way to shape the surface you’ll live beside.
Glass mosaic is the most expressive surface you can choose for water: where a plaster shell gives one flat tone, a field of small, hand-varied tiles catches the light and lets it move. That’s why the same pool can feel like a quiet reflecting basin in one light and a living, shifting surface in another. This guide walks through what that does for a pool, what sets Maris apart, and how to choose among its three coastal colorways.
Why the surface under the water matters more than you think
Choose the surface first — it decides the color of the water before any other finish does.
Designers have a habit of treating pool tile as a finishing detail, something chosen near the end alongside the coping and the deck. It works better the other way around. The interior surface is the one material the water touches everywhere, so it sets the baseline for everything else. Get it right and the rest of the design has somewhere to rest.
A solid plaster finish reads as a single, even tone. That can be lovely, but it’s static — the water looks the same at noon and at dusk. A mosaic works differently. Hundreds of small tiles, each slightly varied, break the light into pieces and hand it back to you as depth and movement. The eye reads that variation as richness, the way it reads a hand-troweled wall or a length of raw linen as more alive than a printed flat. This is the difference between a pool that looks finished and one that feels considered.
What makes glass mosaic different
Color on the surface, variation that reads as handmade, and a material you can feel good about.
Color that lives on the surface
Maris is opaque — the color is layered onto the surface of each tile rather than running through it. That matters for how it behaves underwater. Light plays across the surface to reveal organic depth, echoing the way the sun settles over moving water. As the water moves, the surface color answers it, so the finish never sits flat. It’s the quality you notice without being able to name — a pool that looks alive rather than painted.
Variation that reads as handmade
Every tile carries subtle tonal variation, so no two areas of an installation are exactly alike. Mounted in a DOT-backed sheet for installation, the mosaic keeps the hand of the maker while staying practical to set. The result feels organic and one of a kind — immersed beneath the water or used as a surface above it on a spa wall or fountain. It’s craftsmanship you read with your eyes before you understand why.
A material with a lighter footprint
Maris is made from 100% recycled glass, handcrafted in Spain through eco-conscious manufacturing. For a growing number of homeowners and designers, that’s no longer a nice-to-have — it’s part of the brief. A surface made from recycled material lets you build the pool you want without setting that intention aside. It’s a small, concrete way to choose responsibly, and it asks nothing of the design in return: the color and the craft are all still there.
Close-up of Maris recycled glass mosaic showing layered surface color and tonal variation
Meet Maris — three coastal colorways
One collection, three moods — from luminous shallows to deep open water.
Maris is drawn from the Mediterranean and named from the Latin for of the sea. The collection gathers water, light, and sustainability into one surface, offered in three color stories so you can shape the pool around the feeling you want. Explore the full Maris Collection to see each one in context.
The Shallows
A luminous blend of seafoam, aqua, and weathered teal, drawn from sheltered coastal coves. The Shallows is the bright, welcoming end of the range — the water reads clear and sunlit, the way a protected bay does on a calm morning. Reach for it when you want a pool that feels open, fresh, and easy to be near.
Salt Mist
Soft gray, misty blue, and weathered-stone tones, drawn from morning fog along the shoreline. Salt Mist is the quietest of the three — a muted, grounded surface that settles a space rather than brightening it. It suits a spa, a wellness courtyard, or any pool meant to feel calm and a little contemplative.
Breaker
Rich indigo and deep marine blue with dramatic, watercolor-like movement, drawn from ocean waves. Breaker is the deep, confident end of the collection. The color carries real depth, so the water looks substantial and a touch theatrical — a strong choice for a statement pool or a dark, mirror-still water feature.
Three Maris pool tile colorways side by side: The Shallows, Salt Mist, and Breaker
Sizes and formats
Two mosaic formats and a finishing trim — enough to design the whole surface, edges included.
Format changes the rhythm of a surface as much as color does. Maris is offered in two mosaic layouts and a dedicated trim, so a single collection can carry the field, the waterline, and the finished edge.
Mosaics
— 1″ × 2″ Offset — a brick-set layout with more visible movement and a softer, more organic feel across the surface.
— 2″ × 2″ Straight — a clean, aligned grid that reads calmer and more architectural, letting the color do the work.
Trim
— 2″ × 2″ V Cap — a finishing trim that turns a crisp, rounded edge at steps, spillways, and pool coping, so the surface resolves cleanly where it meets the air.
Where Maris belongs
Anywhere water and light meet — residential or hospitality.
Maris is built for water environments. Pool interiors and waterlines are the obvious home, where the color reads through the water all day. But the same surface earns its place on spa walls and steps, on fountains and other water features, and in wellness spaces where the goal is a room that feels calm and grounded. The collection translates easily between a private courtyard pool and a resort spa — the craft and the color hold up at either scale, which is why it suits residential and hospitality work alike.
How to choose your colorway
Start with the light and the feeling you want — the color follows.
There are no bad colors here, only different intentions. The easiest way is to start with the feeling you want the water to give back: bright and lively, or quiet and grounded, or deep and dramatic. From there, two things guide the choice.
— The light. A pool in full sun all day will lift a lighter colorway like The Shallows; a shaded courtyard or a spa often wears Salt Mist or Breaker more beautifully, where depth matters more than brightness.
— The surroundings. Let the water either echo its setting or set up a gentle contrast — weathered stone and pale plaster against the soft tones of Salt Mist, or warm decking and greenery against the depth of Breaker.
Whichever way you lean, the tile is there to let you bring your own sense of the space into it — not to impose a look on you. The collection gives you the range; the choice tells your story.
“We design for how a space makes you feel before you can name why. With Maris, the color lives on the surface and the light does the rest — it moves with the water, so the pool feels alive and grounded at once. We’re not handing anyone a trend; we’re giving them a surface to shape a space around their own sense of calm.”
— Feras Irikat, VP Brand Strategy & Design, Island Stone & Tile
Frequently asked questions
What is Maris glass pool tile made of?
Maris is a glass mosaic handcrafted in Spain from 100% recycled glass, produced through eco-conscious manufacturing. The color is layered onto the surface of each opaque tile, which is what gives the collection its depth and its shifting quality underwater.
Is glass mosaic a good choice for a pool?
Glass mosaic is one of the most expressive surfaces you can put in a pool: it holds color, it reads beautifully wet, and the small-format tiles let light move across the water. Maris is made specifically for pools, spas, water features, and wellness spaces. For installation specifics and project suitability, your Island Stone contact can advise on the right details for your build.
What colors does Maris come in?
Three coastal colorways: The Shallows (luminous seafoam, aqua, and weathered teal), Salt Mist (soft gray, misty blue, and weathered stone), and Breaker (rich indigo and deep marine blue with watercolor-like movement).
What sizes and formats are available?
Two mosaic formats — 1″ × 2″ Offset and 2″ × 2″ Straight — plus a 2″ × 2″ V Cap trim for finishing edges at steps, spillways, and coping.
Can Maris be used beyond pool interiors?
Yes. The same surface works on waterlines, spa walls and steps, fountains and water features, and in wellness spaces — anywhere water and light meet, in both residential and hospitality settings.
How do I choose between the three colorways?
Start with the light your pool gets and the mood you want the water to give back. Bright, sunlit spaces lift The Shallows; shaded or contemplative spaces wear Salt Mist; statement pools and dark water features suit the depth of Breaker.
The bottom line
The surface under the water is the quiet decision that shapes everything above it. Glass mosaic gives a pool its color, its depth, and its movement — and Maris does it with a material made entirely from recycled glass, so the responsible choice and the beautiful one are the same choice.
Where to go from here:
— Decide the feeling first — bright, calm, or deep — then match it to The Shallows, Salt Mist, or Breaker.
— Plan the whole surface, not just the field: use the Offset or Straight mosaic for the body and V Cap to finish the edges.
— Bring the light into the conversation early — it changes which colorway will read best in your space.
When you’re ready, explore the new Maris Collection or talk with the Island Stone team about samples for your project. We’d love to help you shape the water.