In contemporary architecture, facades do far more than simply enclose a building, they define the building’s identity, create visual interest and shape how a structure interacts with its surroundings. Textured brickwork, such as sawtooth bricks and brick slips, offers architects a powerful tool to introduce depth and rhythm across their facades.
Creative Brick Solutions is proud to be the official UK distributor for Rairies Montrieux, bringing these specialist brick formats to architects and specifiers who are seeking more expressive facade solutions.
By combining traditional manufacturing expertise with innovative design thinking, Rairies Montrieux produces bricks and slips that go beyond flat surfaces, enabling buildings to achieve a stronger architectural presence while maintaining both durability and performance.
In this blog post, our team of brick experts delves into using sawtooth bricks and sawtooth brick slips and the full range of design possibilities that this opens up.
What Are Sawtooth Bricks and Brick Slips?
Sawtooth bricks and sawtooth brick slips are designed to create a repeating angled profile across a facade. Rather than presenting a flat surface, these bricks introduce shadow lines and directional texture, creating facades that change appearance throughout the day as daylight conditions shift. The result is a dynamic surface that can add visual complexity without the need for additional materials or applied decorative elements.
Sawtooth bricks are available in a range of configurations, including horizontal sawtooth formats that emphasise linear rhythm and vertical profiles, designed for height and articulation. Commonly used on feature elevations, entrance zones and large facades, sawtooth bricks help architects add depth and visual interest while maintaining the durability and performance of traditional brickwork.
This type of brickwork is particularly effective in urban environments, where buildings are viewed from multiple angles and distances. Sawtooth detailing can help break down large elevations, soften a building’s mass, and create a sense of craftsmanship and individuality that sets your building apart.
Designing with Sawtooth Bricks for Modern Facades
One of the key advantages of sawtooth bricks and slips is the flexibility that they provide during the design process. Architects can vary the orientation, spacing and layout to create subtle or dramatic facade effects depending on your project requirements. When combined with glazed finishes, engobed colours or natural clay tones, these bricks can deliver striking visual results while maintaining a cohesive material palette.
The spacing of sawtooth effects can have a dramatic effect on your project. A great recent example of sawtooth bricks is on this Rairies Montrieux project below; Gagarine – Romainville.
This project uses the sawtooth bricks more sparingly to create a texture which feels softer compared to many other examples of sawtooth brickwork.
Another great example is our Creative Brick Solutions Brickfield Square project, as seen below. Here sawtooth bricks break this façade by adding texture to the columns and feature panels next to windows.
You can consider using sawtooth bricks above windows to create contrast and introduce subtle shadow lines that enhance the depth of your facade. By positioning them as a header detail or within a projecting band, they can frame openings and emphasise horizontal rhythm across the elevation. This approach adds texture while maintaining a cohesive brick palette throughout a building.
Experimenting with a long triangle sawtooth slip can have a dramatic effect and create long vertical lines.
Sawtooth bricks and slips with the point ‘off-centre’ can also add something different to your designs.
The use of pattern is often overlooked when special-shaped bricks are concerned, and can provide a unique facade design, such as stackbonding multiple sawtooth bricks or slips together.
One interesting option is to use half-sawtooth slips and experiment with the bond patterns that can be created. This changes the feel of the facade texture dramatically just by changing the arrangement of the slips.
Bringing Texture and Depth to Brick Cladding Systems
Rairies Montriuex sawtooth bricks and slips can be integrated successfully into both traditional masonry construction and modern brick slip cladding systems. For example, slips can be made specifically for mechanically fixed aluminium rail systems, thinner slips for EWI systems, or with a key in the back of the slip for precast concrete panels. This flexibility of manufacturing makes them suitable for a wide range of different architectural designs.
The use of sawtooth brick slips within brick cladding systems allows architects to achieve complex facade textures without significantly increasing structural load or installation complexity. When installed using modern mechanical fixing systems or external wall insulation systems, these brick slips provide the same durability and weather resistance expected from high-quality brickwork, while offering far greater design freedom.
At Creative Brick Solutions, we work closely with design teams to ensure that sawtooth brick and slip specifications are developed with buildability in mind. From early concept design through to installation guidance, our team supports the successful integration of these specialist bricks into facade systems that meet both aesthetic and technical performance requirements.
Supporting Architects To Explore New Design Possibilities
Creative Brick Solutions supports architects and specifiers throughout your specification journey, helping you to identify the most suitable sawtooth brick or slip solutions for your project. From colour and finish selection to technical detailing and supply coordination, our team ensures these specialist materials can be delivered efficiently and installed successfully on site.
By working directly with Rairies Montrieux, we are able to offer UK projects access to a unique range of artisan brick products that may not otherwise be available through standard supply channels. This allows architects to confidently specify materials that bring individuality and architectural expression to your designs.
Through thorough specification, careful detailing and collaboration between manufacturer, supplier and design team, these materials can help transform facades into architectural features that respond to light, movement and context. With the support of Creative Brick Solutions, sawtooth brickwork can become a facade design tool that delivers a surface that is distinctive, durable and visually engaging.
If you are ready to design with sawtooth bricks or brick slips on your next project, then contact our team to discuss your design and specification requirements.