Last year I discovered the beauty of Granada Tile when I saw their tiles installed in the Delphine restaurant in the W Hollywood. (I am a little late on the bandwagon.) When I found out that they were a locally based and family owned business, I had to meet with the owners to learn more about the cement tiles.
Granada Tile's cement tiles are made by hand in Nicaragua using a very old technique that was developed in France. Over lunch the owners were explaining to me the process of making a tile and the casting of the mold for each tile. I insisted that the next time they paid a visit to the factory that they record the process. They just got back from their last trip and returned with a video! Nothing replaces handmade craftsmanship - I am glad it is still alive.
Image & Video: Granada Tile
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Wow, I grew up with these tiles all over the southern Mediterranean, from Morocco to Spain to Provence and Italy, where they are a middle class staple used to add cheerful pattern to floors in hot climes without rugs. I loved them as a kid, but the down side is you are stuck with this pattern "for a lifetime."
OMG those are gorgeous. Totally lusting after a tiled backsplash from Granada now.
So cool to see the process! I don't mind the idea of having the same tile for a lifetime if the style is a classic one, even if it's a bold classic. It's when the style can easily become dated that you run into problems. When in doubt, go with a tile similar to those found in the oldest homes.
Hey, our house had the same Armstrong vinyl stick-on "Spanish" patterned "tiles" for over 40 years. Which would you rather look at? I'm going with the encaustic (i.e. cement) tiles, hands-down.
Just about every finish decision you make in a house is more or less permanent.
Impressive amount of hand work per tile -- no wonder they are costy!
Wow - I always wondered how these beauties were made - never thought it was so intensive. But it is definitely worth the effort.
Growing up in Spain I always lived with these tiles and to this day a room that has these tiles - no matter how out-of-fashion they may be, always looks spectacular and special.
Mschatelaine is right - Just about every finish decision you make in a house is more or less permanent.
Pretty, pretty. Good quality tile can last a long long time. If I ever get to renovate in Los Angeles this will be the type I choose.
My flat has those tiles!! It was a PRO when we were thinking of buy it! And yes, they are costy... but here in Spain there are several factorys.
This tiles are beautiful, but very delicate and vinegar, lemon, can leave stains, they need treatmen with wax or similar, never bleach....
Or you can go to Morocco and get lower quality cement tiles for a few dollars each. Fine for a wall, a bit riskier for a floor, even though they are used for floors all the time.
I recently saw beautiful colored but not painted tiles, maybe on Dwell.com, that I listed after. I don't think the manufacturer was listed.
I spent some wonderful time in Nicaragua during the 90's and these tiles were everywhere. So beautiful!
Impressive!