The Art & Craft of Relief Tile

And nearly as far back as relief sculpture goes, so goes relief tile.

Even the the oldest complete stone building complex known in history features relief tile. Built in the 27^th century BCE, the Step Pyramid of Djoserin Saqqara, Egypt featured a burial chamber paved with thousands of small convex tiles glazed the intense blue of lapis lazuli to give the impression of a gem-lined eternal resting place.

And archeologists excavating the Egyptian palaces of Ramses III (1184 -1153 BCE) found they were decorated with relief tiles showing human figures and hieroglyphic inscriptions.

Terracotta tiles molded in the shape of gorgoneia, military emblems and other designs decorated tile roofs in Roman settlements as long ago as 490 BC. In 1st century AD Rome, elaborate figurative terracotta plaques moved from temple friezes (such as those in the Temple of Apollo on Rome’s Palatine Hill) to the walls of villas and palazzos, filling these domestic spaces with triumphant military processions, exotic landscapes and more.

In ancient China, terracotta figures and molded tiles were created for the tombs of emperors to depict their wives, soldiers, servants and even pets. As in Rome, figural tiles edged rooftops to ward off evil, with undulating dragons and fearsome lions guarding those living or praying inside.  ▪

Throughout the Americas, relief tiles and sculptures were crafted not only by the Aztec and Mayan peoples, but also the ancient civilizations which pre-date them. Many depict each culture’s most important gods and deities. Mexican Talavera ceramics and tile emerged after the Spanish Invasion, when these exisiting traditions blended with Spanish ceramics techniques, as well as the Moorish, Islamic and Asian influences that had already flowed into Spain.

The mosques of Persia and the Arab world were clad in elaborate relief tiles displaying excerpts from the Qur’an. These were often glazed in shades of blue derived from the area’s rich deposits of cobalt, layered with lustrous color made with metal compounds and occasionally glazed a second time over an intricate tracery of gleaming gold leaf, the better to send light dancing across their raised designs.  ▪

According to tile historian Hans Van Lemmen in his wonderful book 5000 Years of Tiles, the fall of the Roman Empire ushered in a return to simpler modes of building for several centuries across northern Europe. But around the late 10th and early 11th centuries Anglo Saxon tile makers in northern Europe began pressing wooden stamps into clay tiles to create raised designs used for the floors, walls and staircase risers of churches, such as St. Albans Abbey in England.

And, says Van Lemmen, “from the early thirteenth century onward, magnificent ceramic tiled floors were laid first in the Gothic churches of monastic orders, then in the palaces of kings and later also in the homes of wealthy merchants and important citizens.”

As demand grew, tile making moved from small temporary tileworks set up at building sites to more industrialized workshops and factories in centers of production alongside major roads and waterways in both England and across Europe.

In late-18th century England, the Industrial Revolution brought new methods for mass production that allowed for more color, crisper details and a wide range of design styles, ushering in a grand age of tile that peaked nearly a century later with the raised-line and molded tiles of the Art Nouveau period.  ▪

In 1877, besotted with European tile he’d seen the year before at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, John Gardner Low founded J. & J. G. Low Art Tile Works in Chelsea, MA, along with his father John Low. The company became famous for its highly decorative relief tile, which adorned everything from fireplace surrounds to soda fountains of the late 19^th century US.

An article in the London Daily News in 1880 said of Low tiles, “They seem to be not only beautiful, but to reveal a new phase in art, somewhere between sculpture and painting.”

And thus the vogue for dimensional tile swept across America.  ▪

Crafted from humble materials, with seemingly infinite possibilities for color, pattern and form, around the turn of the 20^th century, tile adapted quite readily from the earthy, naturalistic expressions of the Arts & Crafts movement to the flowing lines of Art Nouveau.

Even as innovations in building pushed buildings to previously unimagined heights, tile held sway, the ideal medium for the neo-classical aesthetic of the Beaux Arts style.

And when Art Deco arrived on the scene in the 1920s and ‘30s, tile proved to be the perfect portable, modular medium for creating crisp lines, contrasting glazes and geometric shapes across vast surfaces, indoors and out. In fact, the fluted pilasters and pictorial friezes that gave Beaux Arts and Art Deco architecture such monumental grandeur were as much a revival of classical materials as motifs — molded tile standing in for the chisel and hammer, as it had for thousands of years.  ▪

As Deco gave way to Modernism, with its spare lines and rigorous restraint, tile once again adapted. Relief tile allowed for interplay of light and shadow that enlivened modern spaces with pure geometry, unburdened by figural or overtly representational imagery. 

Frank Lloyd Wright frequently turned to relief tiles to express his distinct architectural style. Wright’s approach used patterned blocks (both open and solid) in large walls held together with steel rods. He called his design “textile blocks,” a name chosen not for the repeated patterns but for the steel rods that held them in place. To Wright, the rods were reminiscent of a fabric’s warp and weft, weaving the structure together from within.

The motifs of his textile block houses were heavily inspired by the previously mentioned Mayan architecture. Wright began developing this new style as a setting-specific departure from when he moved to Los Angeles from the Midwest and the Prairie style. 

The Ennis House, which extensively features textile blocks has become a futuristic icon in its own right because of its inclusion in media such as the film Blade Runner.  ▪

This Modernist approach most informs our relief tile collections. The Origami collection takes relief tile to its crispest, most versatile modern expression, with reeded Cords, fluted Coves and beveled Pleats in myriad shades of matte cement. Run them parallel for quiet rhythm or perpendicular for something more allegro.

Exclusive to OUTERclé in the United States, Fornace Brioni + Cristina Celestino's sculptural tile collection is where modern italian design — gently inspired by classic motifs — meets heritage craftsmanship, and goes outdoors. Art melds with function, enlivened by Milan wit and flair. The Partizioni collection applies the same inspirations to breezeblock.

For a perenially glamourous indoor option, the Lapidary Sculpted Shapes collection at clé is a unique stone option for modern tiles with shape. 

The Fornace Brioni + Cristina Celestino collaboration for interiors, exclusive to clé in the United States, features dimensional terracotta tiles inspired by Roman classical architecture and Italian formal gardens, abstracted into sculptural, graphic forms.

Relief tiles: an intriguing and dynamic future with an ancient and contoured history.