15 Aug 2015

The Tile Files: Majolica

In interior design and the decorative arts, an Italian noun that rolls off the tongue in a little dance usually has a lot of premise to it, and Majolica is one of those words! Welcome to Mirabelle's monthly design series, The Tile Files. We've had quite a journey so far, from Tomettes to Mosaics, via Azulejos and Delftware, and right now we are about to embrace the wondrousness of Majolica in its bold design, rich decorative layers, deep strong colours and endearing crackled glaze. 

Tin-glazed Earthenware Dish, via The Metropolitan Museum of Art

As much as Majolica is mellifluous by name and by nature, it seems that its heyday is being reinvented by every major art movement. First off, Majolica is a generic term. Scratch its veneer and you find a confluence of timelines and spaces, yet rooted in the same influences. For the purpose of our tile-based research, we aim to concentrate mostly on Victorian Majolica decorative tile, although we need to be aware of other variants of the ware, most notably the decorative tin-glazed earthenware of Maiolica, popular in Italian Renaissance (14th-16th century). The name is believed to be a Medieval Italian reference to the Balearic island of Majorca, a pottery stopover on the Hispano-Moresque wares trade route to Italy. Maiolica ware was mostly used for presentation dishes, drinking vessels and apothecary jars. The designs on the wares depicted a scene or told a story as istoriato wares do.

Art Nouveau Floral Majolica Tile, via Tile Heaven

In general, Victorian Majolica is known to be brightly coloured, richly adorned, layered, moulded and embossed, with emphasis upon florals and curves. Contrasting from the multi-coloured designs are the monochrome ones, which play on the depth and intensity of one single colour, from deep and dark to watered down to a watercolour effect. Closely-guarded trade techniques produce the high-gloss lead-glazed finish, with other effects of translucency and opacity being also achieved. Alongside colour and finish, relief techniques were achieved, by means of cloisonné, tube-lining (a.k.a. slip-trailing), or barbotine (raised painted slip decoration). Stencilled slip tile designs befit the streamlined industrialised processes. Meanwhile the advent of the Arts & Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau will confer Majolica a modernist, angular and voluptuous decorative edge that bridges the gap between the 19th and 20th century.

Art Nouveau Majolica Tile, via Tile Heaven

Historically-speaking, Mintons Ltd. (part of The Minton Tile Companies) is the English pottery manufacturer that is the most associated with Victorian Majolica. The firm started off under Thomas Minton, producing blue transferware for dinnerware, including the popular Chinese-inspired Willow pattern. His son Herbert Minton took the family business to pastures new (with a resolutely modern, design-led approach), branching out into decorative encaustic tiles, and forming partnerships with designers and architects in the process, attending worldwide trade fairs and gaining recognition as high-profile contracts were signed. Minton took on French engineer Léon Arnoux as Art Director and the latter produced Majolica coloured glazes that gained a lot of attention at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

As much as the second half of the 19th century had heralded Majolica's heyday, the 20th century took the fortunes of the English pottery industry as a whole into disarray, through a series of mergers and restructurations that progressively squeezed innovation out of the production model and with it the richness that had been experienced in earlier times. Staffordshire, the pottery county of Britain par excellence, took a hard blow in the process. This bittersweet statement shouldn't prevent us from admiring and appreciating those designs of the past that actually appear so contemporary and fresh through their choice of bold colours and inventive motifs.

Art Nouveau Tile by Sherwin & Cotton, via Art Nouveau Tiles

Sources: (1) Tin-glazed Earthenware Dish, late 14th century, Tuscany, Italy, via The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2-3) via - and available to purchase from - Tile Heaven. Let us note in passing their interesting history of art section on Majolica. (2) Art Nouveau Floral Majolica Tile, manufactured in the U.K. by Corn Bros, circa 1900, features the popular Victorian and Art Nouveau theme of foliage and florals. The central motif resembles a blue poppy, with a foliage border surround. Interestingly the motifs sit at the intersection between Victoriana and Art Nouveau, with signs of Victorian exuberance, as opposed to the more rigid and restrained (stylised) geometric representations of Art Nouveau, as found for instance in the (3) Art Nouveau Majolica Tile, manufactured by id., circa 1905. Further fine examples of Majolica tiles may be viewed from Tile Heaven. (4) Art Nouveau Tile, circa 1910, by Sherwin & Cotton (1877-1911), via Art Nouveau Tiles. The website boasts a fine Art Nouveau collection, with some stunning examples by the likes of Marsden Tile Works, Alfred Meakin and Pilkington.

11 Aug 2015

Tiny Housing, Grand Living: Orii di Corsica

Welcome to our brand new series, Tiny Housing, Grand Living. Herein Mirabelle explores compact living habitat under all its guises, spanning climates, cultures and timelines. I am starting off with a bang and a WOW! of wonder, with the integration of tafoni (honeycombed rock surfaces) into the built environment, with whimsical faerical results! Just follow me down the southern part of the Mediterranean island of Corsica.

Those under-rock troglodyte shelters are called Orii in Corsican (Oriu, singular). They look like they might have - either directly or coincidentally - influenced  fantasy authors (and graphic artists!), and one would be forgiven for thinking Tolkien and The Smurfs Village as they tread the smooth rockfaces and climb the sea-salt-polished boulders surrounding those enchanted mushroom-shaped dwellings. The shelters are perfect examples of a harmonious integration of nature into human habitat.

Originally used as shelters in prehistoric times (as far back as 7,000-10,000 BC), those peculiar ground-level caves were later rendered more habitable by nomadic shepherds who erected dry-stone walls to close off openings. The shelters were also used as granaries. Oriu di Grossetto (pict 1-2) depicts this fascinating contrast between the smooth mushroom-like cap and its weathered, hollowed basis. Meanwhile Oriu di Canni (pict 4-6), with its pointed spire-like structure, resembles a chapel. This article being only a synopsis, many more Orii of note are to be contemplated at Ma Corse!


Sources: (1) Double Oriu di Grossettu and (2) Arche du Chaos de Grussettu (Grossetto Tafoni Arch), photography by Corse Sauvage, via Flickr (18-Jan-2012). Further details (in French) from their informative website, Blog Corse Sauvage. (3) Oriu de Caldarello, photography by Ma Corse (Jean-Marie Vergès). Further details (in French) from their comprehensive Orii section. (4) Oriu di Canni, photography by Christian Comiti, via Flickr. (5) Oriu di Canni, photography via Perierga (article in Greek). (6) Oriu di Canni, photography by Loïc Colonna. (7) A tafoni close-up (for reference only): Tafoni Sandstone Rock, from El Corte de Madera Park, San Mateo County, California, photography by randomtruth, via Flickr. "Tafoni are small cave-like features found in granular rock such as sandstone, granite, and sandy-limestone with rounded entrances and smooth concave walls, often connected, adjacent, and/or networked. They often occur in groups that can riddle a hillside, cliff, or other rock formation. They can be found in all climate types, but are most abundant in intertidal areas and semi-arid and arid deserts. Currently favored explanations controlling their formation include salt weathering, differential cementation, structural variation in permeability, wetting-drying, and freezing-thawing cycles, variability in lithology, case hardening and core softening, and/or micro-climate changes and variation (i.e. moisture availability). Tafoni have also been called fretting, stonelace, stone lattice, honeycomb weathering, and alveolar weathering." (source: Wikipedia).

7 Aug 2015

Belle of the Ball and Lady of the Rings

Dainty to the fingertips of the soon-to-be-engaged-to-be-married Lady Mirabelle. The rings by British jewellery designer Alex Monroe are little dewy gems of faerical inspiration that are catchy, not out of brash and ostentation, but out of the exact opposite. The fact that they are slimline, discrete, whimsical, delicately feminine and original in design makes them stand out. So then, no sign of Liz Taylor-style XXL rocks here, and no exuberant price tags either!

Alex Monroe's designs feature precious and semi-precious stones set in 18 and 22ct yellow, rose or white gold, or platinum or sterling silver textured bands that are fashioned in such a way that they resemble twigs and other organic arts of nature. The rings are hand-crafted to spec in the artist's London atelier. They are statement pieces in their own right for all of life's occasions. This selection herein of eight affordable quality pieces of understated luxury, set in timeless aesthetic style, polished with character and individuality, resonate with Mirabelle's personality, as a match made in Heaven between form and function!



Source: Alex Monroe. Photographic compositions by Mirabelle. Clockwise from top left: (1) Enchanted Ring, (2) Half Eternity Papina Ring, (3) Wild Posy Twist Diamond Ring, and (4) Heritage Ring Seven.



Clockwise from top left: (5) Green Amethyst Forest Jewel Ring, (6) Teeny Tiny Pink Sapphire Ring, (7) Pale Green Sapphire Eyebright Ring, and (8) Morganite Hoya Ring.

The famed jeweller not only applies his talent to rings, but also to necklaces, bracelets, earrings, lockets, brooches and cufflinks. More from Alex Monroe.
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