There’s no such thing as a typical day for the team at Tiles and Trims and August was no exception.
The team are always here to help with queries and questions from tilers and bathroom installers all over the country about their tools and expertise about using them, so when they received a phone call from the lovely Carrie Reichartd, it was a little out of the ordinary…
Carrie had been given a month to have her finished work go on display for this year’s Award exhibition at the British Ceramics Biennial which runs from 23 September to 5 November in Stoke-on-Trent with numerous exhibitions, installations and events celebrating of the creative potential of clay for storytelling, playfulness, risk-taking and activism!
So why did an artist call Tiles and Trims?
Carrie, artist, had a tight deadline to transform a Ford Zodiac (donated to the team by Fat Boy Slim) into a mosaic art piece which would feature strobe lighting, music, and video interviews - celebrating UK rave culture and the birthplace of acid house, in particular Shelley’s nightclub in Longton.
Having gained a First Class degree in Fine Art and a career spanning many media, including film, performance and sculpture, Carrie is no stranger to using a wet saw to cut a tile or a china plate. For this particular project though, she was after a diamond cutting disc that would leave a clean, crisp finish and the team at Tiles and Trims were happy to provide their advice on what would work best.
David said “Carrie called us to ask what we recommend when cutting china plates and naturally, we were intrigued. We recommended the Montolit Perfetto 250mm Diamond Blade and Carrie placed her order straightaway, we’re really pleased the diamond cutting disc worked and has made cutting china plates easier for Carrie and the team.”
David continued “It was really humbling that Carrie chose to contact us for a recommendation and it shows that the team at Tiles and Trim can really help in any situation. It’s not often we get asked what’s the best Cutting disc to cut Duchess Bone China Plates and Pill Box Lids so it was good to know we helped!”
What was the outcome?
We spoke to Carrie after the car had been completed and is now proudly (but not so loudly) displayed at the British Ceramics Biennial. After the exhibition’s opening night on 23rd September, ‘Mad in Stoke’ received noise complaints from locals and now the piece will only be available to listen to via headphones. The silencing of Carrie’s masterpiece takes us back to the early days of acid house when raves were being shut down by police, all over the place!
Anyway, we digress, Carrie was really pleased that she spoke to Tiles and Trims and said ‘I already had a wet saw which I used but the disc I had used to chip all the china so I asked the team at Tiles & Trims what they would recommend to cut ceramic and they suggested I used the Montolit Perfetto. I couldn’t agree more, it cuts through bone china like butter!”
Carrie continued “It’ll be useful for me going forward, I need to cut ceramics regularly and I’ve never found a disc that works that well, so this is great.”
The exhibition is available to visit at All Saints Church in Hanley until 5 November and from the ten artists across the UK who were selected to create projects with ceramics, we’re so pleased that Carrie’s ‘Rave On - Mad in Stoke’ was one of those prestigious 10!
You can see a short film about the piece created by Darren Washington from One One Six here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxC7JP1IABk/
Photography credit: Sarah Peart - Optical Designs
Carrie Reichardt Bio:
Carrie Reichardt gained a First Class degree in Fine Art at Leeds University and has had a career spanning many media, including film, performance and sculpture. She is perhaps best known as a ceramicist and mosaicist, working internationally on large scale public murals.
Website: https://carriereichardt.com/
Instagram: @carriereichardt