Their  work

Finding the barn where Alice Gibbons and her partner Ian Harper work is a little tricky as it's buried deep in the Suffolk countryside, but once I arrive the welcome is warm and the setting gorgeous.

True artisans: Alice and Ian have a real passion for the tiles they make

Alice and Ian are true artisans, with a real passion for the tiles they make.

They've been working together for 17 years and care deeply about creating tiles that people would love to have on their walls. They finish each other's sentences and share a desire to create beautiful products that bring joy to those who use them.

In  the  beginning

Things have changed a lot since the couple began working together in Stoke on Trent almost two decades ago.

"We had a design studio, working for the pottery industry," Ian says. "We produced all sorts of products for stores such as Harrod's, John Lewis, Laura Ashley and the General Trading Company. We've been involved with pretty much anything classed as ceramic.

"But that market was changing drastically and we didn't have any control over the end product. We were simply providing a design service and we were keen to have more control over what we produced."

Branching  out

It was then Alice and Ian decided to branch out on their own and to put their art school training into practice by designing something where they had real control.

"We decided we had to look for a product where it was up to us how we design it, how we position it and where we sell it," Alice explains.

"We chose tiles because, at the time, the tile market was just so poor. There was nothing out there that was inspirational.

"When  someone  puts  our tiles  on  their  walls  we  want  them  to  love  them.  We  want  people  to  understand  the  story  behind  the  tile  and  to  feel  that  they  have  something  really  special"

"We're more of a studio base than a manufacturing base, because we wanted a tile that was very difficult to copy. We wanted to be a design-led company.

"Many companies class their tiles as hand-made, when they're not. In reality it's simple, if you turn the tile over and it's flat on the back.it's been made on a machine. Because ceramics have to be touched by hand, they can be classed as hand-made, but ours really are made by hand.

"We feel we have a responsibility; when someone puts our tiles on their walls we want them to love them. We want people to understand the story behind the tile and to feel that they have something really special."

Unique  range  with  real  heritage

Rather than looking to design up-to-the-minute tiles and following the vagaries of fashion, Alice and Ian wanted to create a unique range with real heritage.

"It had to be a classical thing. You can do very contemporary stuff, but it doesn't stay. It gets ripped out after a while. Hopefully we'll never fall into that category. We firmly believe you have to stick with the classic.

"With our tiles, we have to get everything right, we have to get the making of the tile right. The glaze has to be perfect, the design has to be perfect, the application has to be perfect and above all it has to have that classical thing.

"When you've got all that and you haven't taken any shortcuts, you've got a product that will last for a very long time. It's getting all of those elements together. The moment you remove one of those elements, you fail."

So with high ideals and a real sense of adventure, Alice and Ian set about creating their dream tiles.

Started small: experimenting by hand-painting and using a tiny kiln

"We bought a tiny kiln and stuck it in our conservatory at home," Alice says. "We started experimenting, by hand-painting tiles, but it was really limiting because you can't get the right level of detail.

"Plus, it was only ever going to be a local market that we could cater for that way and we had grander designs."

Natural  History  tiles

Alice is perhaps most famous for her Natural History tiles, the idea for which came in a rather serendipitous way.

"I went and bought a birthday card," she says. "The design was beautiful and I thought wouldn't it be great to be able to put something that crisp and beautiful on to a tile.

"I turned the card over and it said it was licenced to the Natural History Museum. So we rang them and told them we'd like to make tiles with their designs and they asked us to put a proposal together.

"We were - and still are - ridiculously over-ambitious at times. Anyway, we wrote this very long proposal about who we would sell to and how many tiles we'd sell and we got an invitation to go and see the Natural History Museum, so that's really where it all started.

"We were working very hard. I drove all over the country visiting individual customers and Ian was working the poor old kiln as fast as it would go.

"We had a factory by then, but we only had one kiln. So we used to set the alarm for 3am, get up in the middle of the night and drive to the factory to turn the kiln round.

"We were working it and ourselves as hard as we could, seven days a week. I'd drive around each day with a sample basket. It was great. People love the hands on service. They like to be able to speak to me or Ian. 

"Things really changed when we had a full page in Country Homes and Interiors and we got more than 700 enquiries. That was the beginning of the business.

Working  with  Fired  Earth

"It was around that time that we began working with Fired Earth - about 10 years ago now. We sent samples of our tiles to Nicholas Kneale and he loved them. We wanted to work with Fired Earth as the company had always been known for their uniqueness and originality."

Chinoiserie: Alice Gibbons' tile range at Fired Earth

For the latest Fired Earth Alice Gibbons' tile range - the Chinoiserie collection - Alice and Ian have worked with the renowned decorative artist, Adam Calkin, to create tiles which are inspired by the Chinoiserie wall paper patterns of the early 19th century.

"We wanted to expand from Natural History and wanted to use our own creativity to create something highly original. There's been a long period of minimalism and we thought it would be nice to bring real detail back to the bathroom. We wanted to create a range that was beautiful, different, classic and which has real longevity.

"Ian and I had been working on Chinoiserie for a while before we brought Adam Calkin in. We'd always loved his designs, particularly the wallpaper he'd produced for Lewis & Wood. We'd always admired his sense of colour. He's a fascinating person; there's not much he hasn't done. He travels the world painting in beautiful houses.

"When he came up with the Chelsworth design, he interpreted exactly what we wanted and we're keen to work with him much more. The mix of his artistry and handcrafted tiles is a match made in heaven."

The Chelsworth tiles - which are available exclusively from Fired Earth - can be used as individual panels or floor to ceiling around an entire room. However they're used, the result is stunning, original and timeless.

Classic  approach

Classic approach: Alice and Ian have stuck with hand-printing

It's this classic approach that is a driving force behind Alice Gibbons' tiles.

"Many tiles now are made using digital printing techniques, but we've stuck with hand printing, which is sadly a dying art," Ian says.

"The move toward digital printing is mainly driven by cost. Digital printing, though, has real limitations. Often you end up with something that looks like a second-rate photocopy. There's not enough depth or quality. That's why we've chosen to produce tiles the way they would have been made historically.

"In the tile world in this country, we probably are the best at what we do. We understand the design, the importance of it being made by hand and using quality glazes. We know that you can't take shortcuts, that everything needs to be fired separately. It comes through in the quality.

"With us, you get the real thing. It's the genuine article. It's hand made in England in Suffolk. People are so concerned about where things are coming from; they know with us it's not flown in from the other side of the world, it's not made using cheap labour.

"We mix up our own colours and glazes. For example, we've recently been using cobalt and adding a stain to it, in the way Delftware would have been produced. Instead of moving forward, we're reversing.

"Because of the way we work, we can use in-glaze colours and put colours under the glaze, giving more of an antique quality. Our tiles have a further life - they're not simply a fashion statement. The fashion side of tile making is not for us. We want to create tiles which are collectable, rather than disposable - the antiques of the future."

 

For more information on the Alice Gibbons tile collections for Fired Earth, visit Fired Earth online.

All images except the Chinoiserie bathroom tile roomset by Tim James at The Gray Gallery