Every tile is a real material.

The spruce, maple and ebony on a luthier's bench; lapis lazuli, malachite and cinnabar, once ground into the pigments of the Mogao cave murals; a slice of meteoric iron, jadeite, bamboo, leather, frosted glass. Each has a mark of metal or mother-of-pearl set flush into its surface, like a piece of handmade inlay.

Swap two neighbouring tiles, and three in a line are gathered up. There is no need to be quick, or clever.

Recorded on iPhone XS Max (2018). If your iPhone runs iOS 18, it runs Inlay.

Eight scenes

Made for iPhone Duo.

The first four scenes were captured on iPhone Duo, opened out. The board spans the fold, which always falls between two rows of tiles, never across one. Folded shut, the outer screen has a layout of its own.

Tonewood

A cello maker's workshop: spruce, maple and ebony. Rain sometimes falls past the window.

IPHONE DUO · INNER SCREEN

ii.

Jade

A koi pond beyond the pavilion; the fish slip beneath the lotus.

IPHONE DUO · INNER SCREEN

iii.

Bamboo Grove

An afternoon grove; leaves drift down in the wind.

IPHONE DUO · INNER SCREEN

iv.

Meteorite

A mountaintop under Orion, and a small launch base.

IPHONE DUO · INNER SCREEN

Bamboo Grove on the outer screen of iPhone Duo — Folded shut, the outer screen keeps a layout of its own.IPHONE DUO · OUTER SCREEN

iPad

On iPad, the full layout works upright or on its side.

Dunhuang scene on iPad — v.DunhuangThe minerals once ground into the Mogao murals.

Stone & Silver scene on iPad — vi.Stone & SilverA stone pool by a clear stream, in morning mist.

Frosted Glass scene on iPad — vii.Frosted GlassA glass studio under a skylight.

Lambskin scene on iPad — viii.LambskinA sunlit leather workshop by the garden.

Postcards

A journey, taken slowly.

Cello spruce grows in the Paneveggio forest in the Alps, and the luthiers of Cremona turn it into instruments. Dunhuang follows the Hexi Corridor to the Mogao Caves. The bamboo walks through Arashiyama, Kamakura and Hangzhou; the meteorite begins at Hoba in Namibia, the largest ever found. Sixty local postcards, each telling the story of its place.