Yes, you want to add ceramic tile to your home. Easy, right? Have you ever stopped to consider that ceramic tile has been around for centuries. Since we are keen on history, here is a condensed historical account of tile.
The word tile come from the latin word ‘tegula’ and its french derivative ‘tuile’ which means “a roof tile of baked clay”. The english word ‘tile’ is less precise, for it can be used to describe any kind of earthenware slab applied to any surface of a building. The word ‘ceramic’ comes from the greek word ‘keramos’ meaning pottery. It is also related to an old sanskrit root meaning ‘to burn’.
Historically, man has always wanted to add beauty to living spaces. To that end, tile has been in existence for over 4,000 years. Beautiful tiled floors have been found in Egyptian pyramids, the ruins of Babylon and ancient Greek cities.
Decorative tile work was invented in the near east, where it has enjoyed a longer popularity and assumed a greater variety of design than anywhere else in the world. In Europe decorative tile work did not come into general use, outside of Moorish Spain, until the second half of the twelfth century. But when it did artists created tile mosaics in Spain and Portugal, maiolica floors during the rennaisance in Italy and tile iconography in England and the Netherlands. (Iconography means visual images, symbols, or modes of representation collectively associated with a person, cult, or movement – we had to look it up too).
In the beginning given that there was not much technology people used what nature could offer them: clay and water, baked in a furnace or simply dried in the sun. This is called “terracotta”, which literally means “baked earth”. As technology improved the technique of tile and its secrets of trade were safely guarded and orally handed from father to son and master to student. Each tile was hand-formed and hand-painted, so one can say that each tile was an individual work of art.
Today there are several types of tile – glazed, unglazed, mosaic, carved and modelled, sgraffito, glass and lustre painted. There are tile pictures and tile patterns. Tile can literally be used on any surface in your home.
If you interested in adding this type of art work to your kitchen, your bathroom or your floors, please let us help. After all, where else would one go other than Century Tile, when looking for a century of tile?
