ARTIST’S PERSONAL FIREPLACE
Involvement: Architect
Project Objective: A local artist wanted to tile around a fireplace in their personal residence. They imagined a hand laid tile design brimming with playful animals to match the existing carved mantel. Design options were created in sketch up. I developed a code system to convey the tile placement and quantity. This was used to communicate both with the specialty tile maker and also the tiler installer. Each tile was laid individually.
This design was 3D modeled and extra time was used to create the actual tile face on each tile. Specific tile placement was important to the owner. This modeling method allowed the owner to better envision the whole design and approve final placement before material orders were placed.
Some design obstacles:
Fitting handmaid tiles onto an existing wall space while also attempting to avoid field cuts. The tiles were hand glazed and the glaze “feathered” at the edges. Field cuts would be visible in the final design. Cutting would also increase the chance of breakage for a costly material. However, creating custom sized tiles increased cost. It became a balance between project cost, installation ease, and the effect of the final product.
Tiles were handmade, and therefore not all uniform in dimension. A thicker grout was used in the design to allow wiggle room for field placement. The subtle offsets were a desired effect to highlight the hand crafted quality. Reminiscent of a lead stained glass window.
