New Works

Selected work 2024

Based on Anubis, one of the oldest of Egyptian gods.

ANUBIS

Selected Tile Work 2023-2024

Some of the thousands of tiles that we manufactured at FabArgile in 2023 for the library of the National Assembly of Québec and for the restorations of the Sainte-Thérèse d'Avila cathedral (see previous articles), among other projects. In addition to a zero absorption clay-body suitable for Québec's harsh winters, we now have a certified safe and durable clay-body and glaze for floor applications. These technologies are available for customized designs.

Our production of the restored tiles of the National Assembly library is now complete. 2023 has been filled with exciting heritage restoration projects and mural commissions. A small team of enthusiasts is being formed little by little (in the photo, Nick Ouellet) as 2024 invites us towards new horizons. A big thank you to everyone who helped make these projects possible 🙏.

Glazewise©

("everything matters and nothing stays the same")

Iron saturate glazes.

An ode to Fall. A glaze(s) for each season? Hmm, on the list! This is a family of iron saturate glazes at C6 oxidation. With enough heat-work, iron surrenders its oxygen (undergoes thermal reduction) and this is the signal for the party to begin. The metallic crystals bubble up, forming a richly layered glaze surface.

Restoration 2023-2024

La Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée nationale du Québec

At FabArgile we are thrilled and honored to be fabricating tiles for the limited restoration of the library’s floors. Designing and making floor tiles presents a safety challenge. What is unseen, the internal ceramic structure, has to be carefully constructed and tested to provide a sound technical substructure for the visual elements of the tile. The process of matching colors and surface design comes after this.
In my opinion, the affective design of the ceramic floor of the Library stands in strong counterpoint to the grand structures of its architecture. The patterns of the mosaic floor tiles harken to the tapestry of rugs, both then and now. The allusion to rugs, something with which we are all familiar, provides a note of intimacy in an otherwise grand space.
In helping to restore these old works, I marvel at the impeccable skill in design and execution. Perhaps humility and wonder are their timeless gifts to us.

The floor is made of a mosaic of very small tiles that have mostly endured well for over 100 hundred years.

Shrinkage!
The tolerance is under 1 mm, so shrinkage has
to be fully sorted, and then controlled in production.

Original tiles

Clay-body tests for size, density, color response.

FLOOR TILE TESTS ANSI/IPO CERTIFICATION

Slip-resistant, pedestrian-durable floor tiles, certified ISO 10545-7.

The base glaze and clay body developed at FabArgile for the library floor tiles have met and surpassed
industry-certified tests for slip-resistance and abrasion.

Color matching 100 hundred year old floor tiles.

Restoration Cathédrale Sainte-Thérès-d'Avila

Amos, Québec, built 1922

At FabArgile we are restoring thousands of tiles for the Cathedral's architectural outdoor ceramic murals.

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Matching tiles that have endured harsh weather for 100 years.

Clay body, glaze fit, and colour development took several months.

Hunting the Byzantine blue. Making a glaze is one thing. Making a glaze that is stable and repeatable over thousands of tiles is a somewhat different thing. That was a big part of finding the byzantine blue formulation.

Making tiles at FabArgile

Contamination!
Suddenly iron specks appeared throughout. It took us several weeks to find the culprit.

The blue tiles, fresh from the kiln.

Leaf tiles 10x10 cm/4x4 inch.

RESTORATION COMPLETED 2023

Cathédrale Sainte-Thérèse-d'Avila, Amos, Québec

Many thanks to team Atwill Morin for the opportunity to help restore these historic murals .

CRAWLING BLUE

The 'crawling' surface patterns are created when excessive surface tension in the glaze is designed to randomly 'tear' the glaze apart during the firing, 4x4 inch/10x10cm.

CUBIC VESSELS
An exploration of rhythms in form and surface
(in tribute to Dave Brubeck)

The work presented in CUBIC VESSELS is an ongoing exploration of rhythmic relationships of form and surface. It's inspired by the music of Dave Brubeck; a master of beguiling rhythms.The clay is a mid range clay adapted from one of SIAL’s clay bodies.The glazes are made in house. They are composed of frits, spars, metal oxides, clay, and silica.This part of the exploration is focused on the cube as vessel, the analog and digital, the yin and yang, the rhythm of stop and rhythm of go.

If you're into Brubeck's music try this. Start Take Five in one page, let it play for about five seconds, and then open a new page and start Take Five again. I could swear that together they form a fugue of sorts, sometimes clashing, other times harmonizing, one motif chasing another! Ah, what might that look like?

Audio track of Take Five to accompany you through Cubic Vessels.