Well done, I told the brother. Worth every penny, and all the trouble. These are the most beautiful saltillo tiles I have ever seen. I love that they don't have that glazed look. They're very matte, almost dusty looking. And the variation in color is gorgeous, from pink to beige to rust-colored to yellow-orange and brown. It's all in there.
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| Authentic Mexican saltillo tiles in an outdoor walkway of an art deco apartment building on Lakeside Drive. |
It's interesting to me that these tiles work so well with an art deco building, because it seems you would usually find these in a Mediterraean-style home that is going for the Mexican colonial or Southwest look. Art deco is not rustic, by definition. It is "decorative" -- more refined and artful. But I'm glad my landlord didn't overthink this, and saw in his mind how well this would work. It does!
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| Can you spot the pawprint? |
Reading something online about saltillo tiles a few weeks back, I found out that the most authentic tiles often come with pawprints in them -- or footprints from chickens. These are not thought to be defects, but marks of authenticity, as the real saltillo tiles made in Mexico are made of clay found in the area around the town of Saltillo, and are set out to dry wet, apparently in an area that is not enclosed by a fence. If you've been to Mexico, you know how many stray dogs there are wandering around. I think they call them "perros malish." But I could be confusing Russian and Spanish.
I pointed out this pawprint (in the photo above) in one of the tiles at the bottom of our stairs to my two-year-old the other day. And now I think: Oh, how nice it is for that poor little stray Mexican doggie to have made an imprint on the world. His life was not for nothing!
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| Looking down on the walkway from the second story landing |
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