Honouring a Craft Passed Down Through Generations

Some tiles are commissions.
Some tiles are artworks.
And some are far more personal; they become a bridge between past and present, craft and memory, heritage and the hands that shaped the way forward.

This brown-and-buff encaustic tile is my apprentice piece. Not because it was the first tile I made, but because it marks the moment I understood that over the past three years, I had been quietly serving my own apprenticeship. Not in a formal training environment but through real-world conservation, relentless research, experimentation and a deep respect for traditional craft.

Inspired by My Father’s 1970s Business Card

The design comes from something wonderfully modest yet full of meaning: my late father’s original business card from the 1970s.

It features a charming sketch that captured his skill, his humour and the confidence he carried in his trade. Translating that illustration into an encaustic tile felt like a small piece of him: his craft, his character and his way of approaching the world.

The finished piece uses a red-brown body with buff inlay, echoing traditional heritage palettes while preserving the hand-drawn warmth and colours of the original artwork.

My father’s business card from City Ceramic Tile Centre - the beginnings of the prototyping and colour matching stage

A Studio With History in Its Walls

There is another layer woven into this piece.

The tile showroom and workshop that my father owned, the place where he grew his business, is now my studio.

His tools once sat on these benches.
His tiles once filled these shelves.
His craft still lingers in the fabric of the building.

Today, it’s where I mix clay, press tiles, pour inlays and where I sell my own pieces to continue a tradition.

Shopping bags from the past - plastic carriers from City Ceramic Tile Centre

An Unofficial Apprenticeship

With so few formal routes into traditional encaustic work, I felt I had to build my own path. My apprenticeship became one of:

meticulous experimentation
reverse-engineering historic methods
long nights refining clay bodies and recipes
studying and conserving original Victorian and Edwardian tiles
learning by doing, failing, adjusting and trying again

This tile is the marker of that journey. A testament to every breakthrough and every moment that pushed me to understand the craft more deeply.

A link to the past - Dad’s original business cards in the studio today

A Dedication: For Pablo

My father’s friends used to call him “Pablo”, a teasing, affectionate nickname that played on Pablo Picasso and his surname.

He stood out among his contemporaries for being creative, unconventional, and unafraid to approach his craft differently. The nickname was their way of acknowledging his artistic streak, even if they didn’t always know what to make of it.

So “For Pablo” isn’t just a title.
It’s a nod to the man who shaped my skills, my eye for detail and my understanding of what craft really means.

My father was an extraordinary maker. His dedication to terrazzo, mosaic and tessellated pavements quietly paved the way for my own journey into tilemaking. I miss him every day.

This apprentice piece is for him — a tile that carries his legacy forward, honouring the hands that came before mine and the path he set me on.

Inspired by this story? Whether it’s a lost love or another cherished memory, a bespoke encaustic tile can tell yours in clay.

Contact us today to start a consultation and create your own lasting, personal artwork.