Tile Commissions

Over the past years the studio has handled many different tile commissions, from individual tiles commemorating an event, or to mark a special occasion, such as an engagement, wedding christening or birth of a child, as well as retirements and anniversaries. Equally, murals to go in bathrooms and kitchens and tiles to match furnishing fabrics, house names and numbers and even tiles with mottos and sayings! The possibilities are endless!

If you would like some inspiration look at the photos in the gallery or contact us with your ideas. You can also look at the design process. Finished tiles can either be incorporated into a background of plain tiles or form entire murals to go behind a cooker or work surface as something unique for your kitchen or bathroom scheme. Single tiles or multi tile panels can also be framed individually and hung in the same way as pictures.

Prices for commissions depend on the design, the complexity of the artwork and the size of the tile or panel, as well as the type of tiles being used. Additionally, some panels will require two or more firings, so will be more expensive than those that only require one. Once the design and artwork have been approved, and before any painting/glazing of the tiles begins, an invoice will be sent. A 50% deposit is required at this stage, the balance to be paid on receipt by the client.

How a commission works

No two commissions are the same but the easiest way to explain how the process works is to talk you through an example of a recent commission for a medium sized tile panel for a client's kitchen.

Stage 1

The client emailed the studio with an enquiry about having a tile panel made for her kitchen to go behind her dark blue Aga. We discussed the possible colour schemes and what type of things she liked. Sometimes this part of the process can take several weeks as a client may not be sure about exactly what sort of theme they want, in which case we suggest a few possibilities and try to narrow down and identify some ideas that might suit the room and their taste. In this case, the client wanted something that echoed the design of the breakfast china the family used. If a client prefers we can do all this on the telephone, but experience shows that emailing gives the client time to organise their thoughts more clearly and gives us all a reference point to refer back to.

  

The breakfast china

Stage 2

Once initial contact has been made and a theme is decided for the commission, we ask for a photograph of where the panel is to go and the precise dimensions. From there we can come up with several different designs that might suit them and then look at whether the client wants a complete panel or whether they would prefer single or small groups of tiles interspersed with plain tiles. Once this has been decided it is easier to narrow down the field until we come up with a design with which they are happy . We don’t want to rush this stage - a tile panel is a very personal thing and the client needs to be happy with it if they are going to be looking at it everyday! Some preliminary sketches are sent off to the client with a rough price guide for each example.

  

The design stage

Stage 3

At this stage the client may decide to go with one of the designs, reject all of them or, in the case of the example, decide they would like a combination of some elements of the samples. We then draw up and cost out the final design and send it along with an invoice for the work which includes the cost of post and packing. If the client is happy they then send us a deposit (normally 50%) and once that has been cleared work can commence.

Stage 4

The blank tiles are laid out in the studio in the tile press, which keeps them in place whilst they are being hand painted, the glazes are chosen and work starts transferring the design by hand onto the blank tiles. Once this is completed the tiles have their first firing. Most have at least two firings, some have more depending on the complexity of the design and the colours used. The final firing is a gloss firing to 1060 degrees.

Starting work

Stage 5

The completed tiles are checked and packed ready to be sent to the client. Each tile is enveloped in bubble wrap and then boxed for extra protection. Payment of the balance due is within one calendar month of delivery.

The finished panels

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