Do you know how complex but also fascinating and captivating it is to reproduce tiles that were produced over 100 years ago and whose manufacturer no longer has any information or documentation? Such replicas of historic tiles have recently restored a castle in southern France to its original splendor.
Château de Sibra is located in the French department of Ariège at the foot of the Pyrenees in an extensive landscape park and was given its distinctive shape from 1878 by the then owner Joseph Villary de Fajac. When rebuilding the former fortress, the successful businessman commissioned the best craft businesses of the time to combine various styles to create a fairytale atmosphere.
In 2017, Swiss architect Sibylle Thomke bought the castle and park and took on the challenge of reviving the ensemble in the spirit of Villary de Fajac. It should once again become a place to stay for guests who appreciate inspiration and relaxation in a unique setting. She decided to protect the historic structures as much as possible or, where this was not possible, to reconstruct them in detail.
In order to furnish the rooms with the original wallpaper patterns, there was a search across Europe for an old printing machine that was able to print paper webs with the original colors according to the existing patterns. In Sweden, Sibylle Thomke's team finally discovered such a machine from 1860 that was still functional and could take over the task.
In search of a company that could reconstruct missing cement tiles, Ms. Thomke turned to the renowned Swiss flooring specialist shop, which Blatter AG in Bern. During the consultation there, the exhibition consultant, Mr. Raul Exposito, established contact with Mosáico cement tiles in Cologne. Mr. Daniel Bailo, the managing director of Mosáico, was immediately impressed by the challenge of making replicas and so Mrs. Thomke sent him a selection of the historic tiles directly to the factory in Marrakech.
At the factory of the Cologne-based company Mosáico in Marrakesh, the pressing tools, i.e. the precision frame, the polished plate and the backside stamp — all made of stainless steel — were initially manufactured for these historic formats.
Technical drawings of the patterns were then created on a computer and printed out of brass as a template for making the metal templates.
At the Making a metal template strips of brass sheet are bent exactly according to the printed template and soldered together. This work requires maximum precision.
The factory also developed suitable color recipes for the continued production of the tiles. Because only the finished, dried out tile shows the final colors, many complex series of tests were carried out with the extensive experience of the master craftsmen. With the newly developed color recipes, it was finally possible to accurately reproduce the historical shades.
After this long preparatory work, the cement tiles could finally be cast.
At the Manufacture of cement tiles If colored cement paste is filled into the corresponding chambers of the metal template, the template is then removed, the frame is filled with coarse mortar, the surface is covered with a stamp and pressed under high pressure. The finished tile is removed and stored for final hardening.
The results are really impressive! The historic tiles, including the replicas, lie in the top row.
This is also proven by the photo of the finished floor, which was provided to me by Mrs. Thomke; the historic tiles are on the right and the replicas are on the left. Since the castle was recently opened, I will present the redesign in one of the next articles.
In international cooperation, Sibylle Thomke and her team have succeeded in breathing new life into the magical town of Château de Sibra. At Mosáico, we are proud to have done our part.