The Decorative Tile in Architecture and Interiors [Hardcover]

Tony Herbert (Author), Kathryn Huggins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1995

This text aims to integrate tiles and their design and manufacture, with the architectural and social environment in which they were used. It concentrates particularly on the "golden age" of tiles in the 19th century when their production became a major industry. Ceramic tiles are one of the oldest and most universally employed forms of architectural decoration. During the 19th century this medium reached a zenith and this book highlights the way in which the Industrial Revolution transformed the use of ceramic tiles in buildings. It not only brought new techniques and equipment for production but created an expanding world market for decorative building materials. The book features the variety of techniques used by decorative tile manufacturers and the way in which designers, architects and builders exploited the colour palette of ceramic glazes. Coupled with design ideas from around the world and from the history of ceramics, the resulting buildings show how the creative use of ceramic tiles can produce architecture and interiors of quality.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This visually stunning volume successfully integrates the history and development of decorative tile?from ancient Egyptian and Middle Eastern times to the present?with details of design and manufacturing and discussions of their diverse uses within both architectural and societal contexts. Various chapters focus on traditional, commercial, religious, and domestic use and architectural periods and revivals; they bring to light many of the important architects, designers, and manufacturers connected with the tile industry, including Wedgwood, Minton, Maw, Pugin, Boulenger, Eastlake, Morris, De Morgan, and Gaudi, to name a few. The illustrations are a key element in explaining and comparing differences and similarities in tile use and design, exploring architectural wonders from the New Palace of Westminster and St. George's Hall of Liverpool to the Meat Hall of Harrods, Knightsbridge in London. Besides the usual bibliographic notes and index, this volume includes a directory of architects and designers and a gazetteer of historically notable tiled buildings. Recommended for collections emphasizing architecture and decorative arts.?Stephen Allan Patrick, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson City
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Decorative ceramic tiles have brightened and graced the architecture of the Middle East and Europe for many centuries, long before and after the dawn of the machine age. Artisans have created tiles in every imaginable style, from intricate geometry to beautifully expressive portraits, landscapes, and renderings of flora and fauna. The authors, architecture and tile experts both, trace this vibrant tradition from its earliest forms up to today's free-form variations in their thorough, fluid, and unstintingly detailed text. Herbert and Huggins are as adept in discussing the history of aesthetics as they are in explaining technological developments. Determined not to study tiles out of context, their commentary, and many of the 300 color photographs, focus not only on individual tiles, but also on tiles set in all manner of architectural settings. These superb plates showcase decorative tiles in places of worship and commerce, palaces and warehouses, delicatessens and city halls, homes and libraries. Donna Seaman

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714831611
• ISBN-13: 978-0714831619
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 9.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,989,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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