confessions of a master tile setter

antique terracotta square in provincial red. design: Takatina / photo: Man Photography

cinema collection: mythology 2x8 cigars in chestnut + forest and flame + chestnut

zio & sons natural octagon and border

enter the tile setter

then you have people like a tile expert we revere highly. let’s just call him “chris.” he’s thoughtful, he’s curious, he studies every tile he works with to really understand the material. no installation is a mere job or project. rather, it’s an opportunity to engage in (and even show off) his craft, maybe even make a piece of art.

chris is, as he himself has said, more than a tile installer. he’s a tile setter. and in our opinion, a tile setter is what designers, architects, and clients should be hiring for their tile projects.

tile setters have a strong sense of craftsmanship — one that starts with examining the first sample and continues through the intricate work of blending to create a well-balanced layout. and then it includes minding every detail during the installation process, from preparing the surface, to sealing the tiles and grout, to waiting for the full cure.

while we provide resources and material guidelines for every tile we offer, it’s ultimately up to your installer — nay, setter — to ensure the tile lives up to its full potential. we recently had the opportunity to interview chris about just that, including what he’s learned after many, many successful tile installations.

he’s exactly the kind of setter we would trust with our own projects.

clé: how did you become interested in tile?
chris: it’s a mix of things that just came together over time. it’s tile’s permanence, or the fire and glaze coming together… tile is a legitimate art object that many people take for granted. i also happen to have a ceramics background. i got into installation while doing a job for a friend who figured i knew how to work with unusual materials.

clé: do you think of this as a craft or a skill?
chris: definitely a craft. you need to know the material, what it means, and how to work with it. and you need to know how you want the client to feel about it. i’ve honed the craft over years, learning from experience, studying, talking to others.

clé: what are you looking for in a project?
chris: a good general contractor will show and tell me exactly what the client wants. and frankly in many cases, i like having a general contractor as a buffer. but you have to know — and trust — that the gc has really figured out what the client wants and has told me all of it (and that’s assuming the client and the designer have thought it through). that’s why I prefer to work with general contractors I’ve worked with before.

so much of what i do — and what a good contractor needs to do to support me — is about people skills: knowing what the client wants. but what’s most important to me: I want all the people involved to value what i do, to understand how much time it takes. if it’s really simple, that’s fine. if it’s more complicated, i want to know that in advance.

clé: how does it feel working with different tiles?
chris: if you’re working with brand X (a non-artisan tile company) the tile is machine-made, perfect, really easy to work with. but the end result isn’t that interesting. handmade tile is more of a pain: zellige is extremely time consuming at every stage, but the end result is fantastic. it’s an incredible product. i love how it shimmers like an ocean. but, again, it’s very time consuming, and if you don’t manage your expectations in advance, you’ll be frustrated. if you know going into a project that you are going to have to spend that extra time, then you can scope for that in your proposal. plus, you will have a better general sense of what the project will be like.

here’s an example. i installed zellige for one client recently, and it took 10 hours just to unpack the tile for a large bathroom. if i know that in advance, i can add an extra day for just the unpacking to my estimate. but i need to know that, and i need to work with a construction team and client who get that.

clé: what happens if you haven’t worked with a specific tile before?
chris: i have enough experience where, if i have the tile in hand, i can figure it out. after i receive a sample, i sometimes like to have a conversation with the client and/or designer to discuss the tile’s intricacies.

clé: tell us about the importance of samples — and what effect samples have on how you set the tile.
chris: it’s super important to get samples into the contractor’s and installer’s hands (and often clients don’t). if it’s super simple and straightforward that’s one thing. but if not, i want a sample. I always want to weigh a tile sample in my hand and ask: how heavy does it feel? i also find out how much water it will absorb by considering the material and where it will be installed.

clé: what makes for install success? what is the dynamic really like?
chris: expectation setting is key. what the client is expecting is often the biggest issue, so you need to really manage that early in the process.

usually the designer shapes expectations, and i don’t have anything to do with that. i only have my expectations about how the tile is going to be installed but that needs to be in sync with everyone. there needs to be a discussion at the beginning of the project to make sure everyone is expecting the same thing, and laying out both wishes and concerns.

it’s when everyone is out of sync that you start to see friction and problems.

clé: so the general contractor is trying to figure out what the designer wants… who, in turn, is trying to figure out what the client wants? and do clients really show up for installations (as we strongly suggest they do?)
chris: when i work directly for clients, they’re around during most of the process but with varying levels of actual involvement. some want to be involved in every step of the process and as long as they’re respectful of my experience and eye, and we work as partners to create a great installation, all things are good. others just poke their heads in while i’m installing and that works too, as long as they’re clear about what they’re expecting. if there’s a designer, they’ll be there in the beginning but rarely during the full installation. same thing applies, they need to let me or the general contractor know what they’re wanting.

if there’s a general contractor involved, it’s rarer that i see the client — I think that the client is hoping that the GC will oversee the tile installation, though in my experience that’s a little spotty.

clé: who has the most influence on what you do: the designer, the client, or the general contractor?
chris: gcs have the most influence on a job. absolutely. I’d say that if you, as a client or a designer, want to influence the installation, you need to talk to the GC about it and get really involved and not just do drive-bys of the project.

clé: share what you think are the key attributes of a successful project.
chris: first, you need someone who will do things in a way that’s time consuming but that will look amazing. someone who brings a craftsman’s sensibility and eye to it.

you also need homeowners who know what they want and appreciate how long good work takes, respecting my experience. I want clients who want to do it the right way, no corner cutting. most homeowners have no idea how long things will take — they don’t know what’s a big deal and what isn’t. they look at it from an aesthetic point of view, but as a tile setter, i’m looking at it from the technical and creative point of view. tile setters like to be heard in the process.and finally (and I said this before), communication. it’s interesting how tile is such a hard substance, but it’s the soft stuff that counts the most for me.