Tile-Inspired Tables by Susan Harper Furniture

At the recent Craft Scotland Summer Show (at which I swooned over Fiona Daly's British Sheep Breeds collection) there was another range of work that caught my eye and I think regular readers will understand why... Susan Harper has produced a number of tables inspired by Victorian tile patterns. YUM! The tables are simple, really beautiful and totally up my tile-obsessed street, referencing a fab form of decorative arts in slick, muted colours. Click through for more images, check out Susan's website for a look at more of her great work and keep an eye out for future Craft Scotland events here.

Horror Vacui at Trienal de Lisboa

With less than two months to go until the third edition of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale kicks off, more and more projects are being finalised, announced and, in some cases, kickstarted. Close, Closer will see exhibitions, events, interventions and more unfold all across Lisbon from 12 September to 15 December and three architects hoping to join in are Jaffer Kolb, Ang Li and Phoebe Springstubb with their tile-based project Horror Vacui.

TILEWATCH Pre-Christmas Postage

A quick note for those of you looking to get your hands on a copy of TILEWATCH before Christmas: you'll need to get your orders in quick!

Delivery within Ireland: Final postage is 19 December, so orders need to be in by 12 midnight on 18 December (that's tomorrow!)
Delivery to the rest of Europe (that includes you, Portugal and the UK): Final postage is on 18 December, so orders need to be in by 2pm on 18 December (again, that's tomorrow).

You'll find more info on the project here, and you can place your orders over here. And finally, Happy Christmas / Feliz Natal!

TILEWATCH Print Edition

Buy the TILEWATCH print edition here!

Some of you may have noticed that the more time I spent in Lisbon this year, the more obsessed I became with the city's patterned tiles. First that obsession manifested itself in an online project called TILEWATCH where I collected 250 photographs and drawings of ceramic tiles over my six months in Portugal. Well my tile-inspired endeavours didn't stop there, a printed project is just off the press! The print edition of TILEWATCH takes the form of a tile-spotting trail that brings you on a tour of two of Lisbon's central neighbourhoods - Alfama and Mouraria - highlighting a number of tiles along the way.

Farewell TILEWATCH...

As you may have noticed, I spent six sunny months living in Lisbon, the awesome capital city of the awesome country Portugal. As well as soaking up vitamin D, learning a little Portuguese, sampling pastries and familiarising myself with the vast and tasty local wine selection, I developed a mild tile obsession (the doctor says it's nothing to worry about). Over on TILEWATCH I collected exactly 250 photos and drawings of tiles mainly spotted in Lisbon but also in Setúbal, Porto and Guimarães. They're all there for your perusal, and keep an eye for an upcoming tile-related project I hope to have finished and made public soon enough... The last photo (above) was posted recently, and the tiles (found at the Nossa Senhora do Monte viewing point in Graça) spell out 'Boa viagem; Lisboa espera por ti', meaning 'Safe journey; Lisbon awaits you'. Oh, how I hope it does...

Maria Keil

(Intendente)

Born in 1914, Maria Keil was a Portuguese artist who created a massive amount of work, and in particular a great number of tile patterns and murals in the city of Lisbon. I've seen examples of Keil's designs in various places, but it's her work for the Lisbon Metro system that stands out most for me. I first came across her name when researching a post about Parque Metro Station. Parque was one of the first Metro stations opened in Lisbon and the striking tiles in its lobby were designed by Keil.

Largo do Intendente

A part of my neighbourhood I find myself often gravitating towards is Largo do Intendente. It's probably due at least in part to the tiles - the place is covered in all types of them and they're in great condition... It's also a nicely (and newly) redeveloped space that seems to have a lot of art and music events going on. I looked a little further into it and discovered that, as part of one of Lisbon's more socially problematic areas, the city council has recently pushed for a wide redevelopment of the area, with the Largo being one of the first major projects undertaken to reach that goal. The city's president is so committed to the idea that in 2011 he moved his office into a building on the square (he's based in behind the tiled building above). The square is home to a couple of cafes - some old, some new - along with a great art centre encompassing studio, exhibition and accomodation space for artists, called Largo Residências. Residências also seems to engage with the local community, just one initiative aiming to enliven and (re)connect the community along with the recent Festa do Intendente and Lisboa na Rua (Lisbon in the street).

Mr. Spoqui & Me

You may remember a post from a month or so ago about Mr. Spoqui, a family zine full of 'a lot of love, creativity and non-commercial purposes'. Well they've just released their latest issue which takes a look at ceramic and it features a pattern I made based on Lisbon's tiles (above), along with a short interview about my tile obsession enthusiasm! The issue also features comic strips, interviews with ceramicists Ben Fiess and Lili Scratchy, photos of work by Giorgio di Palma and team Spoqui themselves and more. If you're that way inclined, you can buy a copy (or even a subscription) over on Mr. Spoqui's site.

Tilewatch: Porto & Guimarães

I recently visited Porto and Guimarães in the north of Portugal for a long weekend for some music in Porto (thanks to Primavera Sound's first edition in the city) and some culture-spotting in Guimarães (current European Capital of Culture). Naturally while I was there I was going to take some photos of tiles, but when I arrived I convinced myself I had forgotten my camera. I bought a disposable on day one and then found my own camera at the bottom of my bag on day three (of four). So a lot of my photos from the trip are a little grainy and make every flat surface (like that of a tiled facade) look a little curved. You can see these and other tile photos over on my tumblr, Tilewatch. Suck it, Instagram.

Parque Metro Station

When it comes to transport in Lisbon the city's little yellow trams, still in use since the 1930s, get all the glory. And justifiably so - they're about as adorable as public transport comes. But for this post on transport infrastructure in Lisbon I thought I'd take a look at a small but striking Metro station near Avenida da Liberdade, the city's main boulevard: Parque.

Tilewatch

Since moving to Lisbon I've been taking a lot of photos of the all the tiles totally covering the place. I thought I'd gather them together on a Tumblr called Tilewatch and it's over here. Enjoy!

¡Ay Caramba!

After a week or two of busyness-induced silence followed by an unexpected extension of my holiday in the Balaerics (thank you, Eyjafjallajökull - the funniest named volcano I'm aware of), I'm finally back to blogging, hooray!

Firstly, a look at some of the things I've been coveting while in a villa in the mountains in Mallorca:

Awesomely naff tiles. Every house should have some, but maybe not quite as many as there were here: