GLASS TILES :
Glass tiles, yes, but cast by hand so that they still keep in light waves the memory of the liquid and firing, and that a bubble of air can sometimes become montionless and remain trapped in the material.
The wall thus dressed is then veiled with a shining colored layer or barely tinted which attracts the light. A somewhat mysterious adornment in its translucent version that does not immediately show its identity, because it reveals at best when it is not too intensely colored the neutral surface of the white paste which fixes it to the wall, while the thickness of the glass evokes a world a little aquatic.
In its “shiny” version, the back of the tile forming a mirror through the colored thickness adds a shine a bit far away. As this last shimmering version has never existed before, evocations of its use are lacking to talk about it. Or rather, it is necessary to summon some imaginary matters from fairy tale literature, such as the impossible dresses that “Peau d’âne” asked her father to give her in the hope of postponing their incestuous marriage. Descriptions of legendary places forever gone can also be appropriate, especially when there remain some shapeless and dusty ruins, the seduction of which has to be maintained with great reinforcement of gems scattered on the walls.
I also think of the many stories where in all religions the paradise is adorned with unreal material, just real enough to be imagined.
“Shiny” glass tiles dress shady corners of a mysterious light that they manage to steal I do not know where. A bottom of a stairwell or a dismal corridor are a little reassured without losing their essence of passage between two lights and two worlds. Used around a mirror, they form a smooth transition between the perfect reflection of it and the absorbent mass of the walls.
Like all the tiles, glass tiles are obviously suitable for places dedicated to water, but their precious glow should allow them to demonstrate their ability to play with light in more unusual places.
Our glass tiles are handmade in India in kilns more or less primitive, which give them this imperfect and irregular aspect that we like. The work of machines has not yet replaced that of men. And the balance between it and nature is probably as difficult as anywhere else. But nature is more present there where the farm is just behind the factory, than in our industrial zonings.
