The Tile Factory

Just after the first World War ended, this tile factory was created in the buildings of a former warehouse. A maried couple, actually a cousin and niece, took over a bankrupt company and experimentally started to craft tiles and concrete. The husband took care of the management, the designing of tile motifs and the production process. The wife lead a team of young girls working the presses. The concrete was produced in another building across the street. Only in the early 1930s they received a permit for both companies, apparently they worked illegally for more than ten years. 

Tiles were made in two different sizes. The motives were inspired by the ones used by big tile companies in that time, the husband designed them by hand. The amount of manual labour that was put into making the tiles caused the prices to be high, but the process used also made the tiles very hard and durable. They were only bought by the wealthy few, which eventually caused the factory to close down around 1940. Of the duo the wife died last in the early ’70s, meaning that the house has been abandoned since then. They show some serious decay and recently even a part of the factory roof has collapsed.

Another location I had discovered by myself and knew nothing about, so it was a great surprise once again. Only at the end of the visit I noticed that my lens was full of greasy smears from rain I tried to wipe off with my sleeve at the previous location! Oops. In the photos it only shows in highlight areas. I think I will revisit this one soon and try to get better photos out of it!