Antique tiles, art pottery and 20th century design at Bungalow BILL

Vintage Bird Tiles It's Antiques Week in NYC. The city will be filled people from all over the world going to the important shows and auctions throughout the week. The focus has traditionally been on ceramics and American antiques. Finishing off the week will be Stella's Americana and Antiques at the Pier. This gives me the chance to exhibit some of the things I love best and what started me on this journey of collecting. You can find me in booth 335 (see the details on the right sidebar). I'll be featuring items for both the advanced collector and the casual decorator. Among those offerings will be the tiles featured this week. Affordable yet still stylish, these tiles were made by the American Encaustic Tile Company (AETCO) of Zanesville Ohio. They date to the 1940's or 50's and are borrowed designs from the Franklin Tile Company, which was absorbed by AETCO in the 1930's. These tiles were offered as accents to perk up a plain tile installation. They made series including birds, flowers, fishes, colonial lovers, and vegetables. Adding these tiles to your kitchen or bathroom said that you could splurge a little and take your installation a step above the others. In the Arts and Crafts tradition these tiles were made in the cuenca style. The outlines of the designs are raised. This gives the tiles a nice texture as well as serving the practical aspect of keeping the different colors of glazes from running into one another. Plus, they're just pretty darn nice! Click the link below to learn more about these vintage bird tiles.