The Tile of the Century

Most homes have tile, usually of the bland, mass-produced type found on shower walls or kitchen counters.

But there is a beautiful side to tile. Gorgeous handmade tile that’s a feast for the eyes adds a sense of excitement to a home. It brings to mind times when elaborate care was given to building houses, when the work of artisans was treasured, when mass production had not reached its zenith.

“California has a rich tile heritage, especially since the turn of the century,” says artisan Richard Keit, who started making tile in 1978, when he saw a tile revival beginning.

Now Keit’s RTK Studios in Ojai is creating handmade ceramic tile for the restoration of Alumni House at Cal State Fullerton, under the guidance of Corona del Mar architect Ron Yeo.

The Spanish Revival house, once occupied by a prosperous farm family, was on the land acquired for the Cal State Fullerton campus. It remained unused until a few years ago, when alumnus George Golleher, chief executive of Ralphs Grocery Co., pledged to finance the first phase of restoration.

In 1995, Yeo began work on the first phase--a conference room with mini-kitchen and restrooms. A courtyard, fountains and exterior stucco also will be restored.

“In 1931, there was nothing but dirt road, orange and nut trees,” says Mary Jacobson, assistant vice president of university alumni relations.

“We want it to be the welcoming spot for the campus. Social areas will give people that 1930s feel, and the tile will make it stand out.”

Existing stairway tiles were the inspiration for the color and design of new tiles.

Yeo said he commissioned Keit because of the artisan’s close attention to detail and care in production.

If you’ve visited the Moorish castle-like casino on Catalina, you’ve seen Keit’s work. In 1986, he was commissioned to tile the mermaid above the casino’s front door.

The figure had been included in the casino’s original plans, but because time ran out, it was painted rather than tiled. Keit’s tile work created the mermaid as originally planned, although with modern, long-lasting materials.

“Modern formulas are designed to last,” Keit says. “Some of the older tiles weren’t fired hot enough, and, because of this, historical tile installations are few.”

Tile is among the oldest of artistic media, dating back to the Step Pyramid built in Egypt about 2650 BC. Ceramic tiles, more durable than those of wood, metal or bone, have provided much knowledge about such ancient cultures.

Tile decorated tombs in China during the Han period (202 BC to AD 220). From the time of the Sung period (10th to 13th centuries), brightly colored tiles have covered roofs, walls and floors.

Halfway around the world in the 12th century, tile floors appeared in European cathedrals. Spanish architecture used tile to such an extent that “to have a house without tiles” became a Spanish idiom for poverty.

At the turn of the 20th century, a Spanish Revival movement in architecture with an emphasis on decorative tile work gained momentum in America. Architects traveled to Spain, Italy and Mexico and returned with ideas they incorporated into the hundreds of Spanish-style houses, apartments and bungalows they built in Southern California.

Appreciation of handmade tile is again on an upswing among Orange County homeowners. “Handmade tiles create a certain atmosphere that’s hard to resist,” Yeo says. “It takes more time to create handmade tiles, and I think that feeling comes through.”

Doug Cavanaugh, owner of the Ruby’s restaurant chain, lives in a 1929 Spanish colonial house in Emerald Bay, one of the first built in that area. Cavanaugh hired Keit to create a mermaid shower wall with a tile floor and fountain to follow.

“More and more people are realizing that making changes in their home that inspires their aesthetic passion and lasts a lifetime is worth the money,” Keit says.

Fountain Valley interior designer Pam Stovall says she began to notice renewed interest in tile about five years ago.

“Tile makes for a cleaner look, and it’s easy to clean,” Stovall says. “Tiles are odorless and versatile. Some people use tile for health reasons, but most use it for the look. They’re making borders, mixing different kinds of tile together, honed and not honed, polished or unpolished.

“I see a trend in using handmade tile, but in moderation, because of cost. Some are $21 apiece.” Tile prices range from about $1 a square foot for mass-produced ones on clearance to $35 a square foot and up for decorative tiles and imports.

The high cost for handmade tile is largely due to intense and sometimes repetitive labor. “In ceramics and tile making, you do your work, then give it up to the mercy of the kiln that sometimes destroys what you thought you were making,” Keit says. “Whenever anything comes out right, you end up saying a prayer of thanks.”

Olivia Bell Buehl, a former editor of Home and other decorating magazines, has written “Tiles: Choosing, Designing, and Living With Ceramic Tile,” (Clarkson Potter, $40). She says her favorite use of tile is to add interest with a colorful border. Tile can dress up baseboards, chair rails or soffits, the area between the ceiling and the top of kitchen cabinets.

Buehl and other high-end users of tile see a trend to combine several groups of tiles into a complex pattern. Another is to inset tile into another material, such as a tile “rug” set into a wood floor or a tile “patchwork quilt” set into a marble kitchen work island.

Tiles are also used in swimming pools, fireplaces and on furniture such as coffee tables, benches and plant stands.

Keit says his favorite use of tile is “to salt the architecture: landings, courtyards, inside or outside stair risers.”

“For the most impact per dollar spent, use it on the stairs. Stairs are usually an important architectural accent, especially outside. Accents like that really make a difference.”

And, adds Buehl, “tiles are practical [on stairs] because they can take scuffing.”

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Resources

* California Tile Heritage Foundation, P.O. Box 1850, Healdsburg, CA 95448 (707) 431-8453. Organizes events and compiles literature on important tile installations around the country.

* BOOKS

* “Ceramic Art of the Malibu Potteries 1926-1932,” by Ronald L. Rindge (Malibu Lagoon Museum, 1988, $50).

* “Casa California: Spanish-Style Houses From Santa Barbara to San Clemente,” text by Elizabeth McMillian, photographs by Melba Levick (Rizzoli, 1996, $55).

* “Tiles: Choosing, Designing, and Living with Ceramic Tile,” by Olivia Bell Buehl (Clarkson Potter, 1996, $40).

* WORLD WIDE WEB

* Search keyword: “ceramic tile”

* Sample source: www.infotile.com