Robin Petravic

I'm fascinated by design and color (which is a good thing, I guess, since I'm an artist.) This book satisfied both those desires in me, plus let me see into homes, offices, buildings, restaurants, and be a bit of a voyuer , to see how others design their spaces. Oh those beautiful tiles, textures, colors, and designs. Truly enjoyed this, plus it's given us some ideas to incorporate in our own home.

Thank you, blogging for books, and the publishers, for sending this book along to me. I hope to visit the factory/showroom sometime, if I ever get out to the Bay Area again.… (meer)

I am so disappointed with this book! I love tile and buy a lot of it for housing rehab projects and I wanted a book that would give me ideas and that make sense for my clients. Well there are some ideas here – if you are the kind of person who buys handmade tiles in Fez and has them shipped to your house in Japan or otherwise orders glorious tiles from around the world to put in some special space. Mostly this book is just pictures of rooms that the authors like, rooms floating free of context and woefully lacking in explanation and photographic detail.

Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic are designers and decorators. They bought a California company "Heath Ceramics" to add an industrial production capacity to the portfolio they could offer to clients. That's a great plan and a great risk and the story of Heath Ceramics might have made an interesting book. But this book is not that book. The tiles in the pictures are not Heath tiles. Instead the authors have rummaged in their photo collection and talked to clients and friends and put together a coffee table book. Minimal technical or design guidance, just photos of rooms, some of which do not appear to have a tile anywhere. It is only when you look closer, or read the specs, that you realize there is a ceramic doodad like a vase, or small bit of flooring replaced by a square tile tucked in there that you had not noticed.

An example: "Catalina House" (each of the buildings shown has been given a name) features, as the book says: "A delightful use of clay tiles [creating] a hanging 'curtain' in the outdoor area that forms a screen to distract from the property next door. This curtain is free hanging and acts as wind-chime when breezy, adding a wonderful element of sound to the space." Now this is a neat idea and I wonder greatly how it works. But the photo is so artistic and sun-dappled that all detail is obscured. The curtain of tiles looks more like wooden slats. There is no close-up to show how the tiles are attached (? wire) or what keeps them from breaking or wearing if they are striking each other or the restraining medium to make the noise. The brief technical specs are at the back of the book in an annex and tell us that the screen is vintage 1960 and designed by Stan Bitters and doesn't tell us if it has survived to 2015. Bitters, we read elsewhere, is a sculptor working in ceramics and friend of the authors, who show his work several times in the book.

For maximum effectiveness, the specs should be alongside the exhibits and expanded. As they stand the blocks of technical info are not very informative and often say "no longer available" when it comes to the materials in the photos. It is also odd that most of the text in the book is at the end. Designer choice, but not one I like. I want to know what is going on before or as I view the photos.

I don't find this book to be inspirational or educational. It is an expensive coffee table confection. A design book should provide insights how to make living spaces more practical and inviting, to seem more spacious. How to solve building problems using tile. There is no discussion of the acoustic problems that tile present. My feet hurt just looking at the hotel room floored in hard-glazed commercial tile. It would be hell to stay in that room, no matter how it looked. The book would benefit from a different organization; now it is a jumble. Residences are mixed with commercial spaces are mixed with outdoor spaces. Photos of Heath tile (there are some) are shown alongside hand-painted tile alongside mass produced tile. The authors should consider that the clients who buy the book in the Heath showroom are not the ones buying online where there are lots of everyday people who love tile but don't get to Fez very often.

And when you do write a history of Heath Tile, send it to me.

I received an review copy of the full book (not the Kindle edition) "Tile Makes the Room: Good Design From Heath Ceramics" by Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic (Ten Speed) through NetGalley.com.… (meer)