60 faux mosaic themed ceramic tiles

A small Belgian ceramic tile dating from the 1930's, recovered from a town house in Picardie, northern France, arriving fully restored and ready to relay. The tiles are designed in the faux-mosaique style, which created the visual impression of a floor consisting of thousands of individual mosaic pieces when, in reality, the tiles are solid and square. The design was introduced in the late 19th century, gaining popularity into the 20th century before experiencing a renaissance again in the 1920's and 1930's.

The tiles were manufactured by Societe Anonyme AMAY (Belgique) and are 14.2cm / 5.6 inches square and15mm / 0.6 inches thick.

60 tiles, 1.2m2 / 13 sq ft

Ideal for a small porch, toilet, inglenook, as a decorative feature, large splash-back area etc.

NOTE Antique tiles were most commonly made in single or two tile moulds. Before current computer automation methods their moulds were made by hand and the colour slips mixed by eye. Kiln temperatures could also be variable, as could the firing time. The result is that tiles often display subtle size and thickness variations and there can be tonal variations in colours, owing to the slip mixing and/or firing time. All of this makes these handmade tiles unique and adds to their charm. Some floors display their subtle variations in size and tones, some not, but when photographing we always take a random section of the floor so that it is representative of the whole. A tiler should always dry lay a section of the tiles to familiarise himself with them before starting to fix lay.