Handmade Tile: Design, Create, and Install Custom Tiles

Handmade Tile: Design, Create, and Install Custom Tiles is an interesting treatment of clay theory, tilemaking, and DIY in one volume by Forrest Lesch-Middelton. Released 1st Oct 2019 from Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 208 pages and available in hardback and ebook formats.

I was surprised by the scope of this book. It's an all-in-one tutorial for understanding the medium, the history, the development and technology, the production, installation, and artistry well enough to get a start on learning the art and craft of tile making.  The book is also interspersed with interviews with other artists elucidating some special techniques, artistry, or design specialties.  As a survey text, it is thorough and accessible and gives a good overview of the special design and production challenges tile-makers must face (relatively small size, uniformity, clay warping, vitrification/durability and more).

The book follows a logical format. The introduction and first chapter cover history, development, clay types, vitrification (and durability), and different types of tile. The following chapters progress through the production of tile: sourcing and preparation, different methods of rolling and cutting tile, production techniques, the surface glazing and other considerations, and firing. There is a resource list at the back of the book along with some studio recipes and a short index.

The final chapters cover design and installation. Sprinkled throughout the book are gorgeously photographed artist displays and interviews. In fact, Handmade Tile is a beautifully photographed and illustrated book all around and I would recommend it to art and design students, not just clay artists. Quarto tend to have consistently high quality in the graphics and layout of their books, and this one is superlative.

This would make a great addition to the studio library for artists (not just clay artists). There is a lot of good discussion on design, texture, technique and more.  This is a well done book, but I feel that in trying to be everything-in-one it misses. I'm not sure if most artisans would be able to create and complete an installation using only this book alone. It is, however, a really good starting point, absolutely full of inspiration and beauty.

Four and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.