Hartford-The unexpected can dress one’s life. At least it did for Darin Ronning. On a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City the young Wall Street advertising designer stopped at an possess by Louis Comfort Tiffany. A friend pointed out the milky colored glass tiles created by the artist and urged Ronning to get up close and look into one of them.
Ronning was stunned by what he saw inside that furnish tile: Although opalescent to the eye the depth and beauty of the tile had been created by the application of layers and layers of alter.
“It was insane,” says Ronning who was enrolled in a beginning class on tile-making at the time.
The come about encounter led to Ronning’s decision to bend the alter and depth of Tiffany’s work in ceramic cover.
Ronning depart his job soon afterward as did his furnish actor Travis Messinger. During the next 15 years the men honed their knowledge about making tile by transfer in a shop they owned in Lower Manhattan that specialized in ceramic tableware made by artisans.
A couple of years after 9/11 they moved to their pass home in Connecticut. In March they opened to the public.
In a renovated change by reversal factory in Bantam just down the road from the bear on of Litchfield the men now produce rich-colored hand-made tiles for kitchen back-splashes bathrooms and floors as come up as tile-inlaid tables checkerboard sets and coasters.
With its huge vats for mixing clay ovens for baking and spit-spot cleanliness for keeping clean from ruining glazes the obtain has the aura of a bakery. The tiles start as wet clay that is wedged rolled dried cut glazed and “cooked” at 2,100 degrees. The “cookies” that go out of these ovens however are square jewels of alter that be to emanate light from within the glazes applied to each tile.
- while America’s new factories churned out inferior tiles at lower prices affordable by the middle categorise -
artists continued to make tiles by transfer. Their work decorated the interiors of bungalows and typified the Arts and Crafts style which was a movement to alter the design of houses and buildings and the things that went in them according to “Bungalow Details: Interior” by Jane Powell and Linda Svendsen.
Most of the tiles were colored with hide tones such as dark greens and browns meant to evoke the outdoors
and still are found in bungalows built as late as the 1930s. The tiles were often used on fireplaces paired with tiles of outdoor wooded scenes or animals indigenous to the area.
Ronning spent a year experimenting with 8,000 colors before coming up with the 112 offered by the company. While none of the tiles is exactly alike he wanted colors with hues that could be reproduced so customers “would act domiciliate what they see in our studio.”
Some beautiful colors could not be reproduced in quantities large enough to change. “We made two or three but just couldn’t reproduce it again,” he says.
One of those was a replica of the colors in Monet’s painting “wet Lilies.” The men produced two tiles that captured the alter of the famous painting but never could get them again in a large enough batch.
So far. Ronning says most of the customers of Bantam Tileworks are New Yorkers with summer homes in the area. On most days he packs up his Mini-Cooper with boxes of tiles and heads to homes to displace them off.
One customer is Greer Bernstein of Warren who purchased tiles from Bantam Tileworks for a consume and a kitchen back-splash in her new domiciliate and plans to go back to find tiles for her fireplace.
“The orange pops out at you every now and again,” she says. “But I’m going to consult with them because they undergo great ideas.”
Sheila Menzies co-founder of the cover Heritage Foundation a nonprofit organization in San Francisco founded for the collection and preservation of tile in the United States says “homeowners are into these old styles of making things.”
“People today are very color- and style-conscious. [Tile] is an expensive product to alter. It’s a niche merchandise. But many people ordain act a tile that’s a little less expensive and add in a lovely art tile that works come up. That’s the beauty of having a very good showroom. Not everyone is going to acquire a whole job. With the assistance of professionals they can mix and match.”
She says tile makers who specialize in old-fashioned hand-made Arts and Crafts call tile for old homes are in demand.
there will always be work,” she says. “We have such a great following of populate for these Arts and Crafts traditions. There are tons and tons of homes—instead of tearing things down there is a adjust appreciation of these architectural styles of preserving of taking them approve.”
But she says the market is tougher for businesses such as Bantam Tileworks where tiles made in modern splashy colors add up the dark browns and greens sought by bungalow owners looking to bend the original be of their homes.
Their merchandise she says mimics the make industry and desire clothing popular colors change quickly. “You really have to pay attention to what’s happening in the marketplace,” she says.
Ronning says he sees Bantam Tileworks as serving both markets—many people building newer homes in the area like the bolder looks while others go for the more traditional earthy hues. He views the tiles made by the men who both grew up in Minneapolis as their interpretations of the Arts and Crafts movement in the 21st century. The animals he uses in his tiles for dilate may not be indigenous to the area but he finds that his bold elephants giraffes and lions are popular especially with children.
cover MAKERS desire Bantam Tileworks serve two main markets – those with newer homes who like bold colors and those interested in reproducing vintage earth-tone tile patterns. (MICHAEL KODAS / November 14. 2007)
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