Since I seem to be on the crest of a tile trend lately, I thought I would continue with a West Coast offering from Fireclay Tile in San Jose, CA.

Claymonde Series by Fireclay Tile

Claymonde Tiles are a new offering for Fireclay Tile and include their typical craftmanship and sustainable practices. I’m more familiar with their beautiful, traditional ceramics, so when I saw these, I knew I had to show you.

Instead of calling them tiles, Fireclay rightly calls them “sheets.” At 6 in. x 36 in. and 12 in. x 36 in., these large-format tiles are manufactured in 14 different colors, with additional sizes and custom colors available for an upcharge.

The sheets are made through a rolling process to ¼ in. thick and fired with non-leaded glossy glaze. Unlike traditional handmade ceramic tiles where one expects a certain amount of variation in evenness, these are relatively smooth. The variation in glazing and smoothness is typical for a mid-to-high-end glazed tile.

Claymonde “Golden Flan” 6 in. x 36 in.

In residential applications, you can consider these for kitchen walls (Fireclay recommends a penetrating sealer at cooktop and wet areas), showers, fireplaces or any vertical or ceiling application. This is also the type of application where any bulges or unevenness in the walls will have to be dealt with if you don’t want the teeter-totter effect or edges to pop.

Lead times are four weeks plus shipping for standard color, and eight weeks for custom colors. www.fireclaytile.com

Until next time,

Kelly

When I first began speaking publicly ten years ago, I eschewed anything to do with politics. The sustainability movement should be nonpartisan, nonpolitical in order to appeal to everyone, I thought. My talks and articles were designed to appeal to everyone, but in developing solutions for helping municipalities develop green buildings, I kept confronting the limitations of government and the game of politics that acts as a block to real progress.

This frustrated me to no end, and I found political opinion creeping back into my slides and writings. Some in the audience felt alienated, some even walked out, but most thoughtfully listened…and I got through.

This November, California voters will vote on a measure called Proposition 23. Prop 23 officially calls for a “suspension” of California’s landmark global warming law (called AB32) “until unemployment drops to 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters.” The proposal positions itself as a “jobs initiative” and tries to pass itself off as merely a temporary measure until the economy gets back on track.

Passed in 2006, Assembly Bill 32 (AB32) is referred to as the California Global Warming Solutions Act. It was the first legislation in the world to comprehensively regulate and reduce greenhouse gases. Under AB32, emissions from vehicles (oil) and energy generation (coal) are required to be cut about 15 percent by 2020 and an additional 20 percent by 2050. AB32 would push California to the forefront of the clean energy revolution, produce green jobs and stave off the threat of global warming.

Although this would only immediately affect California, it would, in reality, have an impact on the entire country. The eyes of the nation are watching California and our wonderfully progressive policies. When they succeed, other states will follow suit.

But here is why Prop 23’s call to suspend AB32 is so particularly sinister: It was placed on the ballot by Assembly Member Dan Logue, who calls it a “jobs initiative” to hide the real backers behind the bill. The bill is supported by two Texas oil companies, Valero and Tesoro and a coal company, Koch Industries. Valero alone has pumped over $4 million and counting into Prop 23. Valero and Tesoro are among the nation’s biggest polluters, and their California refineries are among the top 10 polluters in the state.

The proposed suspension may take a while. The state’s current unemployment is around 12.3 percent and hasn’t dropped to 5.5 percent for an entire year since 1976 (34 years ago). The cleverly crafted language was designed to ensure AB32 never sees the light of day.

You may be asking, “If AB32 was passed back in 2006, why the rush to stop it now?” Simple: The requirements set forth in AB32 are set to take effect this January. The November election gives the polluters just enough time to try and stop it.

This battle will play out as you’d expect: Conservatives will claim this will destroy jobs, raise taxes and increase your energy costs (using fear); while environmentalists will unsuccessfully provide the facts, only to be ignored by the middle class voters susceptible to the fear play.

Some in California worry that by regulating carbon emissions we’ll be putting our economy on the back burner. But nothing in our recent history has indicated that California must choose between economic stability and environmental responsibility.

Innovative energy policies established in the 1970s have saved California consumers $56 billion and created 1.5 million full-time jobs with a payroll of $45 billion. From 1995 to 2008, clean, safe energy-generation jobs grew by 85 percent with the highest concentration in solar and wind. In 2008, energy efficiency jobs grew by 91 percent, according to Next 10, a nonpartisan think tank.

If new, better-paying jobs, healthier air, driving money into the local economy and saving money are attractive, then AB32 is a breath of fresh clean air and worth keeping.

LINKS:

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/19/antienvironment-californi_n_687719.html

Stopping Prop 23:
http://climateprogress.org/2010/08/22/five-things-you-can-do-to-fight-global-warming-and-advance-clean-energy-proposition-23-ab32/

Campaign to stop Proposition 23:
http://www.stopdirtyenergyprop.com/

California Bright Spot:
http://www.CABrightSpot.com

California Air Resources Board AB 32 Information:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/cc.htm

My editorial in Desert Sun:
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100730/COLUMNS26/7290387/AB-32-a-breath-of-fresh-air-that-saves-money-and-adds-jobs

—Eric Corey Freed is Principal of organicARCHITECT and author of four books, including “Green$ense for the Home: Rating the Real Payoff from 50 Green Home Projects.”

This recently completed residential care building for The New Camaldoli Hermitage (the coolest monks I have ever met) in Big Sur is a great example of the use of modest eco-materials used in elegant ways. The monks of The New Camalodoli Hermitage have made a life commitment to stay at the monastery and their cells and therefore require on-site health care as they age. Wanting the building to be simple and humble, yet functional, we chose materials that are earthy, long-lasting and clean. The exterior is cor-ten steel (that won’t have to be refinished or repainted or have maintenance) with elements of of ochre integral-colored cement board (and since the color is integral it also will not require maintenance, refinishing or repainting in the future). The interior is FSC-certified teak cabinets and the flooring is a strand-woven bamboo and slate. The walls are kept a simple white to allow paintings by the monks (a number of the monks are very talented artists). Solatubes are used to sculpt in natural light. The idea is that the peaceful beauty comes from the contemplation gardens, courtyards and the artwork to create a space for healing for decades to come.

The building is composed of four modules that were built in Oregon and shipped down to Big Sur, which was no easy feat.

I highly recommend a visit to the monastery. Overlooking the ocean, it is one of the most inspiring and deeply spiritual places.

Project Team
Client: New Camaldoli Hermitage
Architect: Michelle Kaufmann Designs + Studio 101 Designs: Michelle Kaufmann, Scott Landry, Stephen Rice, James Kean
Contractor: Frank Pinney
Modular Factory: Blazer Construction
Structural Engineer: Marlou Rodriguez
Site Engineer: Fall Creek Engineering / Peter Haase
Landscape Design: Joni Janecki
Owner’s Consultant: Terry McHenry
Permitting Guru: Arden Handshy
Counsel: Frank Hughes
Medical Consultant: Dr. John Clark

—Michelle Kaufmann

Did you happen to catch the “What’s Hot” focus on tubs in our March issue? If so, then you probably saw—and remember—the wall bearing an illustration of a woman winking. A scene-stealer, the illustration is the work of Piero Fornasetti, an Italian artist, interior decorator and book engraver who in his lifetime created more than 11,000 products. Although Fornasetti passed in 1988, his designs continue to dazzle—and maybe inspire a smile or two—through the Fornasettti atelier and the products of its licensed partners, such as UK-based Cole & Son, which makes a line of handprinted wallpaper featuring a variety of motifs, ranging from a woman’s face (Tema e Variazioni, above) to florals to suns.

More directly related to the kitchen and bath sphere, there’s also Ceramica Bardelli, which offers a Fornasetti tile collection—available here through Hastings Tile & Bath—that is fun, whimsical and a welcome sight at the end of a long day at work (as in my case when I was going through our product files) or even in the morning.

The collection is comprised of multiple lines, each characterized by its imagery. Included are Fornasettiana,

Macchine Intero

and Soli e Lune.

Bardelli also offers the brightly colored Tuli-Poni, or the Tulip Art Collection, a series of large-scale tulip-themed tiles designed by Ronald van der Hilst.

And if you have the time, check out the Fornasetti website. The opening page is quite witty.—Alice Liao