Malibu tile
This type of tile was introduced to the American public in San Diego at the Panama California Exposition in 1915 as it adorned the Santa Fe Railroad Depot and what is now the Museum of Us.
The aesthetic represented by these tiles had an immediate appeal to architects and homeowners as they blended beautifully into the increasing popular Spanish Colonial Revival architecture that had also been introduced at the exposition.
Robert (Bob) Harris, a sound technician in the movie industry, found himself irresistibly attracted by the incomparable aesthetic qualities of the tiles and purchased a large collection.
Within a year of the founding of this fledgling enterprise nestled precariously along Topanga Creek, an event took place in downtown Los Angeles that had a major impact on the public’s awareness of Malibu Potteries and its splendid array of ceramic products.
A fellow collector, David Greenberg, another beneficiary of the stash of tiles left exposed following the fire of 1970, mounted an exhibition of his collection at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles, which opened in June 1980 accompanied by a colorful catalog of objects.
In time, Harris was able to replicate nearly all of the many ceramic tile and related products of Malibu Potteries[4] by developing processes and techniques, some advantaged by modern technology, while others still relying on old-fashioned artisan methods.
The first step in producing ceramic tile is making the clay body on which patterns of glazes can be applied and then heated to a high temperature in a kiln.
Geometric patterns were typical of the original Saracen and Spanish floors as illustrated by the picture of a patio at the Adamson House and detailed in multiple vicissitudes in the Malibu Potteries Catalog.
Malibu Potteries was an early adopter of one method to apply the black line resist to tiles: silk screening.
In the cuerda seca, or 'dry line' technique as it is also known, an outline of a pattern is created on a tile with the wet ceramic glazes being applied with drip bottles, such as an ear dropper for infants.
As reported in various sources, Malibu Potteries used "a finely pulverized manganese oxide mixed with a medium viscosity mineral oil".
Large companies, such as Axner, Laguna, Aftosa and Duncan, all offer various products that can be used in creating a resist line for cuerda seca style tile.
[9] A lot more was known about making ceramic glazes when contemporaries attempted to replicate the hundreds of colors and finishes that were created by Rufus Keeler.
Even with modern advantages, creating custom colors and finishes requires a good deal of testing, especially when one must consider the chemical interaction between the clay body and the ceramic glaze.
Just as early photographs show workers at Malibu Potteries,[10] usually women, applying glazes to bisque tile having resist patterns, modern ceramicists rely upon virtually the same technique.
To be able to produce large quantities of tile, Malibu Potteries created an immense kiln which was run on diesel fuel.
Tile at the entrance to the Adamson House, for example, have been exposed to a west-facing sun, salty air on the beach since 1930, and they still retain a high level of brilliance and structural integrity.
Malibu tile distinguish themselves not only by their customary bright colors and patterns but also by being incredibly strong, resisting the weather or constant flow of water.
