6m2 / 65 sq ft. antique Belgian ceramic floor with triple borders

A beautifully designed floor, in its ease on the eye, this period ceramic floor was reclaimed from a house in Gembloux, Belgium. It was manufactured by Societe Anonyme Produits Ceramiques St Remy-Chimay in the 1920-1930's and we include a scan in the photo gallery showing the field tiles. 

The geometric purity of the main field tile is softened by the ornate stylized faux-mosaique large border, itself top-and-tailed by a half-sized border tile. Faux mosaique was a popular design theme, introduced in the late 19th century, which saw a renaissance in the 1920-30's. While the reality was of single, solid tiles, the trompe l'oeil intended was to create the impression of the floor area being made up of thousands of small mosaic pieces.

The tiles are 14cm / 5.5 inch sq, 15mm / 0.6 inch thick and are in a cool palette of grey, cream, and sky blue with some green evident in the large border.

The total surface area is 6m2 / 66 sq ft.

The floor has restored excellently, revealing a good quality ceramic and slip. A few tiles display groutable small chips or edge nibbles, as evidenced in the photographs in the gallery of a random section of the floor. Six small border corner tiles are present, requiring two to be made from free border rejects we will provide. The large border corner is in effect a regular border, as can be seen in the photographs, so there are no potential issues with tracing the border around a room beyond a standard rectangle or square.

Being a highly fired tile, it will work superbly with underfloor heating systems and, as it is resistant to sub-zero temperatures, options exist for an exterior lay such as on a garden path, a patio or in a conservatory.

Tile quantities

FIELD tiles - 175 - 3.5m2 / 37.7 sq.ft

LARGE BORDER tiles - 65 - 1.3m2 / 14 sq.ft or 9.1 linear metres / 30 linear feet

HALF-SIZED BORDER tiles - 132 - 1.3m2 / 14 sq. ft or 18.2 linear metres / 60 linear feet

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.