b'PRESIDENTS LETTERChris WalkerThe beauty of art tileArt tile, hand mold and specialtythisaworkofart,nevertobe tilesarelikelife.Onverycloseduplicated because each piece of inspectionyoucanfi whatisthe whole is one of a kind. nd commonly perceived as a fl orYearsago,manycommer- aw imperfectiononindividualpiec- cialtoiletroomtileprojects es. If reviewed alone, each piecewereprettyroutine.Idontmiss maynotbepreciselyfi or4-1/4x4-1/4coretoiletproj- nished isoddlysized,appearingoutofectsor8x8tileinmallfood place, even in the middle of hun- courts. We used to get excited if a dredsofsimilarpiecesstrugglingdesigner threw in an accent color to blend in neatly with the whole. oraccentbandtobreakthings Butafterawhileyoubecomeup. Occasionally, you would have accustomedtoworkingwiththeachancetoshowyourtechnical pieces and you begin to appreci- chopsonahigh-designcorpo-atetheimperfections.Youhaverate cafeteria project that featured afeelforitandknowtherightsome hand-crafted or specialty tile placeforeachpiece.Itrequiresmaterials. Thoseprojectsallowed patience,experience,andsomeyoutoappreciatetheincredible trial and error to produce a desiredamount of diverse materials avail-outcome. Along the way you mayabletocreatenewmasterpieces. move, change or eliminate piecesWe enjoyed those challenges and asyouevaluatetheproject.Atwerealwaysexcitedtoworkon variousstages,youstepbacktoprojectswithspecialtile.Being viewthebigpictureandtogainawardedtheprojectwasjustthe perspective on your work in prog- beginning, then the hard part came ress. That is when you appreciate you had to get it done!the unique qualities of things youInpreparationforcomplicated had previously perceived as fl aws.projects, you would ask yourself:Those things are now what make Did we do our homework? 14 TileLetter | September 2020'