Client Story | A Slice of Sorrento - A Bespoke Encaustic Tile for a Garden Makeover
Some commissions are about places and some quietly hold years of memory, sunshine, and citrus!
This circular encaustic tile was commissioned to celebrate many holidays spent in Sorrento — a place synonymous with lemons, long evenings, and the simple pleasure of good food shared well. It was designed to become part of something equally personal: a hand-built pizza oven, painstakingly constructed by my client in his own garden.
The tile will eventually be set into the oven as both decoration and reminder; a permanent nod to Italian summers, craftsmanship and the joy of making something with your own hands.
Design Inspired by Place and Purpose
The composition centres on a bright yellow lemon with green leaves, set against a clean white ground with sky blue infill. Alongside it sits a lemon slice, carefully divided into eight segments — a subtle visual echo of a sliced pizza.
It’s a small detail, but an intentional one:
a slice of lemon becomes a slice of pizza,
a memory becomes part of a working oven,
and a decorative tile becomes part of a living space.
The circular format was chosen to suit the dome of the oven while the colour palette keeps the design fresh, Mediterranean, and timeless.
A slice of Sorrento - The final bespoke encaustic tile on display
A Tile Made to Be Used, Not Just Seen
Although decorative in nature, the tile is made using traditional encaustic techniques, with coloured clays inlaid into the tile body rather than surface-painted on top. Fired for durability, it’s designed to live in the world; to sit alongside heat, food, and daily life, rather than be kept at arm’s length.
Like the pizza oven itself, this tile is about use, ritual, and longevity.
A Signature Making Experience
As part of this commission, the client chose to take part in our Signature making experience, spending time in the studio and creating one of his own tiles by hand.
This added moment became an extra memento of the project:
a deeper understanding of the process
a tactile connection to the materials
and a firsthand appreciation of the skill, patience and tradition behind encaustic tile making
For many clients, this experience becomes just as meaningful as the finished piece; an opportunity to step into the craft, not just commission it.
A Memory Set in Clay
This tile will eventually sit proudly in a garden oven — a quiet marker of holidays to Sorrento, of careful self-build and of time invested in making something properly.
It’s a reminder that the best objects often carry more than one story:
where we’ve been,
what we’ve built,
and why we chose to make it last.
The pizza oven - Ready to be decorated with Sorrento inspired Encaustic Tiles
Thinking of Commissioning Your Own Tile?
Whether it’s a place you love, a project you’ve poured yourself into or a memory worth fixing in clay, a bespoke encaustic tile can become part of your everyday world.
