Just a short post today as I head towards the culmination of this past week’s thoughts and work. The tile above is an example of Pewabic tile. Pewabic is a Detroit institution, having been founded in 1903 by Mary Chase Perry Stratton and Horace James Caulkins. Considered part of the Arts and Crafts movement, Pewabic produced lamps and traditional pottery, but it is architectural tile (and its wonderful glazes) that gave them their fame. Still located in Detroit today, they continue to produce pottery and tile for new projects.
I purchased this tile on a previous visit to the Guardian Building in downtown Detroit. The Guardian is one of the most spectacular examples of Aztec-inspired Art Deco you will ever see, and I promise to do a full post on it in the future. In the meantime, here are a few of my photos of the spectacular interior with its Pewabic tile, as well as a vintage postcard of the exterior.
And because everything is connected, Pewabic’s original studio for the first four years of their existence was in a carriage house in Brush Park…behind the Ransom Gillis House.
Pewabic’s website is here.
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