I thought the same as you when I first saw it: What the heck is that, tile?

Nope. It's KML22, a series of interlocking rings with no parting lines/joints/links or, as the inventing company Kaynemaile calls it, a "seamless polycarbonate mesh." The revolutionary production method it springs from, which is proprietary, brings to mind those wooden chain-links carved by craftsmen, but on a much larger scale.

At first glance the benefits of the material are not obvious; it seems like it might make a neat decorative partition at a nightclub or something your avant garde friend Helmut has hanging on the wall of his loft in Berlin. And while Kaynemaile is indeed initially targeting architects and designers with the material, they believe future applications will be much broader, encompassing everything from body armor, aquaculture, water filtration, vehicle drivetrains, conveyor belts, and even artifical ski slopes.

Depending on what material you choose to inject into the mix--plastics, rubbers, ceramics, etc.--you get super-strength, low friction, easily-cleanable membranes, chemically-relevant levels of capillary action, and more. And oh, yeah, it's 100% recyclable.

via 3 rings