A 12.25m2+ St. Remy art nouveau ceramic with double borders

Recently reclaimed, restored & arriving ready to relay, a c.12.25m2 / 133 sq ft handmade ceramic manufactured by Societe Anonyme Compagnie de Produits Ceramiques Saint Remy, the tiles are reverse stamped P C S R. Originating in Chimay, in the Hainaut region of Belgium,  the company was established in 1892 and these beautiful ceramics, in a cool palette of greys, greens and sky blue, date from the early part of the 20th century and display all the DNA of art nouveau styling. We include in the photo gallery scans presenting the tiles from their period catalogue, the cover of which is clearly graphically art nouveau.

In over 15 years of trading, and several hundred antique floors reclaimed, this is only the second time we have come across the floor and we have included in the photo gallery the lay of those tiles on our clients patio in Rye, Sussex, England. We were happy to produce a design plan and technical drawing for our client to best optimise the aesthetic in his area and that is a service we can still provide.

In respect of the floors configuration, both the field tiles and borders are 15cm square and the borders were laid in duplicate, back-to-back. That said, the borders can also be laid  singularly which would double the linear length available. A highly fired tile with virtually zero surface porosity it can be laid inside or outside of the home. 

These 15mm thick tiles are in good condition as the high resolution photographs of a randomy selected section of the floor shows. There are edge nibbles and small groutable chips but any tiles with larger defaults are included free for the tiler to use as offcuts. As seen, the floor displays a pleasing antique patina.

Tile quantities, give or take one or two:-

FIELD  TILES – 415 - 9.3m2 /  101 sq ft

LARGE BORDERS TILES -  125 Plus internal & external border corners – 2.9 m2 / 31.8 sq ft. –  9.9 linear metres / 32.2 linear ft* 

* double the linear meterage for a single border lay.

NOTE
Antique tiles were most commonly made in single or two tile moulds. Before current computer automation methods their moulds were made my hand and the colour slips mixed by eye. Kiln temperatures could also be variable, as could the firing time. The result is that often tiles display subtle size and thickness variations and there can be tonal variations in colours, owing to the slip mixing and/or firing time. All of this makes these handmade tiles unique and adds to their charm. Some floors display their subtle variations in size and tones, some not, but when photographing we always take a random section of the floor so that it is representative of the whole. A tiler should always dry lay a section of the tiles to familiarise himself with them before starting to fix lay.