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.

New Shapes from Pratt & Larson

The first thing to come to mind when you are thinking about tile is usually the classic but utilitarian square and rectangle or subway tile. While we have lots of variations on those timeless squares and rectangles, Pratt & Larson has a wide array of interesting and contemporary tile shapes as well. We've just recently added several new ones. Download the brochure from our website.

This is our new Elongated Fan. It's beautiful in a single color or in color blends, both light and dark, as you can see in these two concept boards. 

Similar in style is the new Elongated Crescent. It's a bit more streamlined and smaller than the Elongated Fan and almost has a retro look in the bright color version to the right. These pieces come loose so you can set them in any direction. The images above show you a couple of options, the first is all oriented in the same direction, the second changes direction from one row to the next, changing the look of the pattern dramatically.

The Rhomboid and the gem shaped Facet offer some sharp angles in contrast to the soft curves of the Elongated Crescent and Fan. In either high contrasting colors or a softer color blend they have a very contemporary and modern feel.

The Hourglass shape is a fresh take on a classic pattern sometimes known as the dog bone. Pratt & Larson's version uses a single shape that suggests a woven pattern when used in two colors. Choose a high contrast color combination for a dramatic basket weave or checkered effect.

The last time we added new shapes was back in 2012, check out the blog post for those fun shapes here.

Winter Holiday Clean Up

In 2013 we spent the Winter Holiday doing some major housekeeping. It worked out so well we did it again this past holiday vacation! 

This time we tackled the car kiln room. It was pretty dark and dirty back there...

With lots of old peeling paint.

So we gathered a crew and built some scaffolding above our custom made car kilns.

We cleared out all the stuff that collects in dark, neglected corners

We scraped all the old peeling paint off the great wooden ceiling and beams and set to work painting everything else white.

Just the new paint brightened things up but we also replaced all the lighting

A new year and a new bright clean kiln room.

Take a tour of our factory and see our awesome kiln room for yourself! Just give the Portland showroom a call at 503-231-9464 to set up an appointment.

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!

Indigo, Navy, Midnight. Blue by any other name.

A few years back i wrote a blog about all the deep dark blues that were turning up on my favorite design sites. Two years later and the deep dark blues are still going strong and i thought this topic was worth another visit. 

Here's an update to that original post.  

Indigo, Midnight, Navy.  These beautiful dark blues have been appearing in all my favorite design sites and magazines lately.  I've put together some pictures of these midnight beauties along with the Pratt & Larson tile they inspired me to order up in our own collection of deep blue glazes.

Filigree C in  W96

The soft texture of this rich navy blue painted wallpaper lead me to try our Filigree patterns in a deep blue Watercolor glaze. It gathers and pools in the recesses becoming deep and dark and pulls away from the delicate pattern, leaving it with a hint of the palest of blues.

Indigo Diamond wallpaper from Galbraith and Paul 

Scraffito C in PW1 with Charcoal

The strong contrasting pattern of this Galbraith & Paul wallpaper has a similar feeling to our Scraffito Series. Here we've highlighted the pattern of the tile by applying an accent color with a technique called PolyWash.  

Carpet squares from Flor

P&L's 2x6 Herringbone in R147 (glossy) and C340 (matte)

For a quieter look like the subtle stripes of these carpet tiles from Flor try a tone on tone pattern. Here I used a glossy glaze and a matte glaze in very similar colors to create a subtle herringbone chevron pattern suitable for use on the floor. 

Kitchen design by Miles Redd

6x12 Field in R147

Texture A in W10

Texture B in W11

Maybe you'd like the whole room in that beautiful deep sea blue? Use our field tile to fill your walls with dramatic color. We can make sizes as large as 6x18! Add one of our new Textures to your field tile for a one of a kind look. 

From Martha Stewart Living

Can't decide which blue to use? Pick a blend and use them in one of our mosaic patterns. There are almost 100 different mosaic patterns available from Pratt & Larson and they can be ordered in any combination of our beautiful blue glazes. Find the right blue for your next project at a Pratt & Larson dealer near you.

Follow the links in this post for downloadable brochures on each of these lines from P&L.