tiling, art or simply work?

[tiling-express]

Anyone passionate about tiling? do you consider it an art to tile, and do a good job? or do you just consider it work?

[doug boardley]

I think you'll find that most regular posters here are very passionate about tiling, otherwise why would we take time to give advice in our free time

[radim]

it is also my hobby....

[Bri]

I consider myself to be obsessed with tiling! Every wall and floor I do, I treat it as if it were a piece of art, constantly trying to achieve that perfect finish.

[tiling-express]

Thank god for your guys replies, thought I was going to go on medication with tiling obsession

[cjones]

I like to think I take pride in my work and do a good job but passionate????
Please, I can think of a thousand places ide rather be than crawling around "mrs smiths" toilet . Get a grip ....
I think you boys have bin sniffin to much tile sealer!

[timeless john]

My wife thinks I'am passionate
My Dad (88) still says 'the day you treat this as a job and not as a hobby, will be the day you start to make money'
Me - I just enjoy the rewards - you get well paid for creating something special and leave a mark on something for a short period of time - until they get you back again when the fashion industry we are in changes

Life is too short not to enjoy the time you work to afford the time to live.
(TJ 2011 Amen.)

[Phil Hobson]

Amen, to that TJ, although the job I am on at the moment would try the patience of a saint.

The mother in law of the couple I'm working for at the moment, (a real challenge) said to me "Phil you and God are making a fantastic job of that floor" to which I replied " yes but you should have seen it when God was doing it on his own"

[whitebeam]

Nice one Phil

[hillhead]

I'm passionate about tiling until I win the lotto,
Then I'll pay someone else to be passionate, lol.

[charlie1]

I wish it was just a job to me, trying to create perfection from things that aint perfect is impossibile but every job i do, i try to get a little closser! Truth is, for last 5 years i have eat, slept and drank tiling, sometimes pulling my hair out with it though as we all do!...tbh sometimes i think im not suited to tiling tbh!.... very passionate!, sometimes its the best job in the world!

[enduro]

Tiling is just work..The art is getting a good rate to do it in the first place!!!

[andy8758]

A good number of trades are Art. Carpentry, stone masonary, brick laying, and (God help us) even plasterers (the floor a good plasterer leaves behind could win the Turner Prize) - to name but just a few.

Yes tiling is Art.

And its true that earning a living from Art is a struggle - until you can mass produce good work!

[GC-Terrazzo]

I take great pride in my work and really enjoy what i do, currently doing 300 meters in a back garden in limestone and 130 meter granite driveway that i'm really enjoying photos will be up in next two weeks when job is done :-)

[Dave]

Look forward to them,

[Musivarius]

I consider what I do as my craft, art is something I see as being more spontaneous, you can mess about a lot more. I think you can to a certain extent be artistic in the design phase but once the work starts isn't it just manual labour? You've settled on the pattern/colours whatever, you know how you intend to lay them so off you go.
Personally I have a method of work which means I can switch off once I start setting and only periodically check in to see I'm not making a pigs ear of it, which I shouldn't have if I've planned it properly.
I see artists as those who have very little constraint in their own medium, painters for example can throw loads of different paints on their canvas, spread them all around and then call it a finished work. With tiling you will always have to be working to a useful end, your finished job needs to be fit for a purpose and not just be pretty to look at. This I think separates the artist from the craftsmen. Anyone can become an artist just by having a go at something, craftsmen need to learn certain skills before they can carry out their trade.

[jwatson]

I have a passion for all the victorian geometric floors and any work of that craftmanship but i wish i could get away from the side of tiling that consists of house bashing.
as quick, as cheap as possible with clients insisting of cutting corners and saving money.

budgets on builds strech, and by the time we, as a finishing trade come in there is no honey left in the pot. it is complete madness when the end finish is what you see.

the victorians decorated everthing, floors, air bricks, ridge tiles, stone work absolutly everything. looking at an old victorian house that has been well maintained is brilliant every aspect is true craftmanship.

so going back to the question in hand "am i passionate about tiling?"
the answer is absolutly yes.
The real question is can our customers satisfy our need as craftmen for quality work?
in my short career the answer is no.

this is my rant for the day

[bootsmckiber]

When I was a helper it was work but the moment I got certified it became art,and it's true,a true tiler has a passion for his/her craft.