The Pratt & Larson Bevel Tile

The Bevel tile is a timeless classic. Made famous in the Paris Metro stations in the early 1900's it still remains a popular choice for today's kitchens and bathrooms. Pratt & Larson offers three sizes of Bevel tile: 3x6, 4x8 & 5x10 plus squares in 3x3, 4x4 & 5x5. Download our brochure here.

Metro Bevel tile in a Paris subway station - from wikipedia

By 1910 those old Paris subway stations were getting pretty ornate.

A white glaze is a popular choice and it can work with installations of any style, from traditional to contemporary. We have a wide range of whites to choose from in glossy, crackle, satin or matte.

P&L 3x6 Bevel tile in a glossy white.

In a flashy metallic glaze like C607 shown here it creates a dramatic, luxurious effect.

From Rebecca Reynolds and the Kitchen Design Network

Craftsman Metallic glazes C600 & C607

The beauty of ordering a Bevel from Pratt & Larson is that you have hundreds of colors to choose from and each of our glazes creates a different effect.

Watercolor glazes pool at the lower edge of the bevel emphasizing the dimensions of the bevel.

W43 Bevel bathroom 

 In the image below you can see how the Watercolor glazes pool at the bottom edge of the bevel, accentuating its shape. In the darker colors this effect is more pronounced.

Watercolor Glazes W43, W87 & W1 

R-gloss glaze series has the most color options, from white to bright with a beautiful glossy sheen. These glazes are a little more opaque and soften the lines of the bevel slightly.

R-Gloss glazes RUW, R62, R147

With their soft sheen the Satin glazes are a beautiful choice for the Bevel tile.

Satin glaze S3

There are so many beautiful variations you can achieve with Pratt & Larson tile. See your options at a showroom near you and order some Bevel tile samples for your next project.

Tilikum Crossing - Bridge of the People

This summer Pratt & Larson had the honor of working on a project with TriMet, Portland's transit authority. 

Tilikum Crossing - Bridge of the People Image courtesy of TriMet

The latest bridge to cross the Willamette River in Portland since the Fremont Bridge in 1973, the Tilikum Crossing was designed specifically for pedestrians, cyclists, buses, light rail and the street car. In fact even it's name means "people" in the Chinook Wawa language used by the traders in the Pacific Northwest in the 19th century. Check out this cool time lapse video of the building of the bridge.

The Sonic Dish

Artists rendition of the Sonic Dish

TriMet allocates 1.5 percent of a projects budget toward art installations along the transit line. One of the art installations for this project is the Sonic Dish, designed by artists Douglas Hollis and the late Anna Valentina Murch. Here's a great 1 minute clip about them.

The idea behind the Sonic Dish is to link the bridge to it's surroundings by amplifying ambient sounds under the bridge as pedestrians and cyclists pass the bridge's curved abutments. The environment plays an active role in the artwork, in the same way that the changing lights illuminating the bridge at night are controlled by changes in the river. The image above explains how the dish will magnify the sounds and focus them at a point 5 to 10 feet from the wall. Of course, its also meant to be a visual experience as explained by Mary Priester, manager of TriMet's public arts programs."The dish is there to be experienced as it is; more art than science, as much visual as aural"

Here's the Sonic Dish's underlying concrete structure. Pratt & Larson supplied the tile that would be attached to this surface. We made 1400 square feet of  white 2" circle tiles and mesh mounted them in our factory just a few blocks away from the bridge. That's 63,000 tiles!! We also mounted 436sf of smaller metal circles in sheets to make installation easier. As you can see our team had a great time visiting the site:

The tall guy overseeing the installation here is our CEO Timothy Roberts.

And our Production Manager, Anthony Asch. Obviously the hard hats were a hit with this crowd.

Here you can see the two different kinds of tile as they are being installed. 

Curved surfaces are very challenging to install flat tile on. These guys did a great job!

This shot shows the finished grouted installation. 63,000 white circles!!

The east side Sonic Dish, completed.

The bridge doesn't open until September 2015 but the Springwater trail is open again and passes right under the bridge by the Sonic Dish.  Check it out and let us know what you hear!

Tilikum Crossing Fact sheet

1/5/15 - Update - They took the fencing down so now you can go and try it out for yourself!

Coverings 2014

It was so wonderful to see everyone at Coverings this year! It seemed like everyone was in good spirits and having lots of fun. We got lots of terrific feedback on our new products too. Here's a little recap in case you didn't make it to the show this year. Not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas after all!

Building the booth

The outside of the booth featured factory images

The tiled entry

Building the booth was quite an undertaking! It took a week of hard work at the convention center to put it up and getting to that point was months in the making back in Portland.

From the very beginning

Our focus this year was on new Sales Tools for our vendors. We offered the newest version of our Sales Tools Credenza and a great new way to show our tremendous color palette and our shapes and sizes in new framed display panels.

The Sales Tool Credenza with the 2x4 Color Palette Panels

The Color Panels also come in 2x2's which allows you to show all our colors in a smaller foot print

The Shapes and Sizes Panels show our best selling field tile sizes and shapes and all of our mosaic sizes are grouped together so you know which ones come mesh mounted.

The Mosaic Package

The Mosaic Package is a fun new way to display our huge assortment of mosaic patterns. The package comes with 20 Mosaic Pattern 12x12 display boards for the wall and a floor box that can either hold 32 more display boards or 56 white pattern tool boards. With the rising popularity of mosaics this is a terrific new package for any showroom.

The Mosaic Package

Large display panels show off new product

We had lots of new product to show as well! This wall featured large displays of our new pieces. Larger format tile has been very popular lately and we have some new sizes available like 6x18! We also presented the new Textured tiles at the show along with our new dimensional tiles - like the new 5x10 Bevel and the Recessed Frame series. Check out the new Catalog Addendum available on our website. 

Michael Pratt & Tim Roberts inspecting the booth before the show opens

The booth was packed for days!

We took in the sights

We found a little time for fun at the Art Tile Party

Packed up and going home.

We found a little time to take in the sights and we had fun at the Art Tile Party and before we knew it, it was time to pack it up and go home. We hope you had a great time at the show too! Let us know if there is any info you'd like about our new products or how to order the new sales tools for your showroom. 

Street of Dreams 2013

We are very excited to be featured in not one, but two homes this year on the Street of Dreams in Stonehenge, West Linn. Once again our tile is showcased in the beautiful homes by Phil Pahlisch of Pahlisch Homes. 

First up is Clearhaven, described as a little bit of Nantucket here on the west coast, this house features cool hues and luxurious surfaces. Interiors were designed by Pahlisch Homes own Christina Ingham with tile specified by Paulson's Flooring designer Jamie Sixberry.

Pratt and Larson's Motif tile pattern makes a central appearance in the spectacular kitchen, both behind the stove and in the adjacent work area.

In the master bath our mosaic circles, in a beautiful neutral blend of colors with a metallic dot, are used to great effect around the sink, tub and floor.

The second Pahlisch Home is called Blackmore. At Blackmore old world grandeur meets modern luxury and Pratt & Larson tile adds a beautiful handcrafted touch to several rooms. The interiors of this home were designed by Carin Atterbury from Surface.

A panel of Filigree tile,  Pratt & Larson's newest line, is set off by two beautiful stones and stone architectural trim in this fantastic shower.

A Motif tile accent above the sink in this guest bath echos the arabesque pattern used in the shower with a dramatic stone architectural trim.

A third bathroom uses the arabesque shape as well, this time in Pratt and Larson's Large Arabesque field in a playful mix of colors. 

As always, the homes in this years Street of Dreams promise to be gorgeous and full of wonderful design inspiration. The show starts this weekend, July 27th and runs until August 25th, be sure to make it out there for a tour. Special thanks to Jamie Sixberry from Paulson's Flooring and Carin Atterbury from Surface for choosing Pratt & Larson to be included in their beautiful designs.