Did you know that ceramics have been highly valued since the beginning of time?
Ceramics has often been the first choice throughout history for many reasons:
1 — For proximity.
Ceramics is a durable material that stands the test of time; this is why it is largely responsible for what we know about human history and evolution.
The first ceramic finds belong to the Paleolithic period. Clay was used as a medium for pictorial and sculptural expression. Its ease of modeling and the discovery of its hardness after firing made it highly valued. Small figurines of Venuses and animals were used as easily portable talismans. Because people were nomadic, they enjoyed the convenience of having clay within reach wherever they went.
2 — For necessity.
The Neolithic is the stage when Homo sapiens became sedentary, devoting themselves to agriculture and livestock, which made containers indispensable.
Archaeological ceramic finds suggest parallel development—independent among human groups all over the world. It is striking how peoples with no apparent contact evolved in similar ways and arrived at ceramics. Vessels were modeled by hand and fired in bonfires. Seeking beauty and personalization, people began to decorate them with incisions, creating low reliefs.
3 — For effectiveness.
Ceramics is a good thermal insulator, it is fireproof, and when glazed it becomes waterproof. Thus we arrive at the first ceramics devoted to functional architecture.
It was in Mesopotamia that fired clay was used as a construction material (around 4000 BCE), and again in Mesopotamia the technique of glazing was discovered (around 3000 BCE)—one of the great milestones in history. The formula was later lost and recovered by the Persians in the 9th century CE. Little by little, its aesthetic power turned it into a cultural expression, creating styles and fashions.
4 — For iconography.
With the expansion of Islam in the 7th century, ceramics took on a new dimension. The tile technique was introduced into the Iberian Peninsula through the Strait of Gibraltar, turning al‑Andalus into a cultural and economic center.
Mozarabic tiles were small, flat pieces of fired clay, glazed in a single color. The alicatado technique appeared, cutting tiles into small pieces with pliers to create colorful mosaics that symbolized beliefs and cultural icons.
5 — For tradition.
On the peninsula, tile decoration was not done directly on the glaze; when colors touched, they contaminated one another. In a territory with a strong pottery tradition, towns appeared where ceramics were one of the main livelihoods; beyond Andalusia, areas such as Talavera, Toledo, and Manises became known, where a variety of techniques were developed to decorate ceramics.
Some of them are still used in today’s craftwork. • Socarrat from Paterna: unglazed clay, much more fragile, painted with iron and manganese oxides. • Cuerda seca (dry line): glazes separated with manganese oxide and fat. Three basic variants are known: brush, incised, and reinforced. • Relief‑line (de arista): pressed clay creating small basins to hold the glazes; the mold ensures faithful repetition of the motif.
6 — For dissemination.
Becoming a hub of the world, Seville hosted in the 15th and 16th centuries numerous foreign merchants and artisans who wished to take part in the city’s economic prosperity.
To them we owe the introduction of painted glazed tile, hitherto unknown in Spain. Tiles thus became a blank canvas, and the Church their biggest client—filling churches and convents with evangelizing images drawn from the Bible.
7 — For luxury.
The Andalusian capital reached its greatest renown and supplied tiles to the rest of Europe and to overseas colonies, both Spanish and Portuguese.
In the 17th century profane scenes proliferated. Kings and nobles decorated their palaces with courtly and pastoral scenes on tile. Large panels, sometimes numbering thousands of pieces, were made to order in the same workshops—a luxury available only to the most powerful.
8 — For prestige.
As Spain began to lose its ceramic leadership, King Philip V entrusted in 1727 the Aragonese nobleman, the 9th Count of Aranda, with creating the Royal Factory of Fine Earthenware and Porcelain of Alcora to compete with Europe’s most prestigious workshops.
Among his titles the count held the Lordship of l’Alcalatén. This is why the Royal Factory was founded in Alcora—the count’s domain closest to the sea—to distribute ceramics throughout the Mediterranean. To achieve excellence, renowned European artisans were brought in and a professional school was founded, becoming the seed from which the ceramic industry flourished in the area.
9 — For convenience.
Alcora, a small town with a deep ceramic tradition, already had more than 20 workshops when the Royal Factory was inaugurated. The surrounding mountains supplied quality clay.
It was located near the river and surrounded by scrubland needed to fuel the kilns. To support the Royal Factory, Philip V granted important tax advantages to ceramists. Workers enjoyed great privileges: they were exempt from military service and were given working conditions unusual for the time, such as agreed schedules, sick leave, and retirement pensions.
10 — For ornament.
Tiles became indispensable in parks and gardens during the late Baroque and Rococo.
Royalty found in ceramics the ideal material to lavishly decorate the exteriors of their palaces, including fountains and parterres, in the opulent and ornate aesthetic of the time—ornamental paintings resistant to sun and rain.
11 — For indispensability.
City streets became filled with tiles—on balconies, cornices, courtyards, and doorways.
Their resistance to the elements, together with the social standing signaled by tiled façades, made tiles essential among the aristocracy. Hence the popular expression referring to people without pedigree: “from a house with little tile.” Repeat‑pattern tiles appeared that were no longer necessarily made to order.
12 — For creativity.
During the Modernist period, tiles became an essential part of architecture. It was a movement of highly expressive compositions, inspired by nature.
Ceramics can be shaped into many forms and reliefs and easily polychromed in intense colors. The great masters of Modernism poured all their imagination and creativity into this material, revaluing ceramics. The bourgeoisie embraced tiles in their homes, and colorful wainscoting appeared which, besides being highly decorative, protected rooms from damp.
13 — For graphic and visual impact.
With industrialization, advertising appeared; on ceramics we see the first advertising signs on shop façades, adopting the tile as one of the main media.
Canopies filled with tiles bearing texts and drawings quickly replaced wall painting because they required no maintenance. Some ceramic workshops owed a significant part of their income to advertising tiles.
14 — For functionality.
With mechanization, ceramics was democratized. In the 1950s tile factories began to proliferate, multiplying exponentially year after year in Spain’s Levant region and in northern Italy, which became the two world powers in tile.
Ceramics ceased to be an unattainable luxury for the middle class. During the second half of the 20th century, the hygienic qualities of ceramics made it ideal for bathrooms and kitchens, becoming the first choice for those spaces.
15 — For technology.
Over the last century, technical advances in ceramics have been dizzying. Within a few years VIVES “had” to open six different production plants to stay at the forefront of new technologies.
1957 — Azulejos Vives I: small‑format double‑firing wall tiles. 1975 — Cerámica Vives I: small‑format stoneware floor tiles. 1986 — Azulejos Vives II: single‑firing porous wall tiles. 1990 — Ceramic Art & Design: special pieces. 1996 — Cerámica Vives II: large‑format stoneware floor tiles. 2000 — Ferraes Cerámica: porcelain stoneware.
16 — For chameleon‑like versatility.
With the new century, the value of design became evident; revolutionary technologies transformed ceramics into a thoroughly chameleon‑like material, capable of perfectly emulating the most precious natural materials while retaining the technical advantages of ceramics.
Today’s ceramics encompass virtually everything: performance, aesthetics, uses. The world of tile has evolved over time; one way or another it has always been part of the solution to human needs and aspirations. Ceramics easily adapts to fashions and styles and, technically, is hard to surpass. Today there are countless reasons that make it the first choice when embarking on new projects.
