3 minute read
Unsung icons: Outdoor tiles & crazy paving This ‘look-at-me ’
Unsungicons OUTDOOR TILES & CRAZY PAVING
COMEDIAN DAVID SMIEDT TAKES AN IRREVERENT, BUT APPRECIATIVE, LOOK AT THE CLASSIC THINGS THAT DEFINE YOU-BEAUT AUSSIE LIFE
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Illustration MATT COSGROVE
It is human nature to decorate, beautify one ’ s home and make it stand out from the neighbours. Between the 1880s and 1930s, as dwellings mushroomed into the suburbs, on our front doorsteps we created what amounted to street art long before the term existed.
We ’ re talking street-facing outdoor tiles. Even what were once the most modest working-class semis in areas such as Sydney ’ s Newtown – now bargains at a mere $1.8 mill – still fly this flag. You just need to know where to look. And that direction is down, at that square metre or two between the front gate and the front door.
Blue-collar Victorian and Federation homes may have been practically identical in their silhouettes and modest in their flourishes, but it was in the tiling choices that homeowners could let aesthetic aspirations fly. Aside from giving decorators the chance to use the word ‘ tessellated’ , the trend provided tradesfolk the opportunity to blend geometry and art.
Tessellated tiles are essentially loose pieces in different shapes, sizes and colours. We loved the magnolia creams, outback russets, eucalyptus greens and hydrangea blues. Laid in a repeating kaleidoscopic pattern with a border, the best were made from vitrified porcelain, although clay and stone also figured. The downside is that they were (and are) so striking and symmetrical that when one tiny element cracked or went missing, it stood out like a neon velvet sectional in a minimalist cottage.
As a result, one member of the household was dispatched to a store with too many Es in its name – Ye Olde Englishe Tilee Shoppe – and told not to return home until a precise colour match was found. These fragmented masterpieces could be rather slick and slippy so you also got to admire the workpersonship up close when you returned home from the pub on a wet evening or the shops laden with groceries.
This was, however, a fashion – and as with all trends, it was eventually replaced. This time with something crazy. As in paving.
This variety of hard surface finishing was as ubiquitous in the 1970s as the Osmonds, flares and grown Aussie men in inappropriately tiny shorts. Weird fact: it was actually invented by the Romans where it went by the Latin name ‘insanus extruendo ’ , or something like that.
Despite the name verging on the politically incorrect – cue an old man in the pub yelling, “You can ’ t even say ‘ crazy paving ’ anymore!” – the title is somewhat of a misnomer. That ’ s mainly because even though the name implies haphazardness in the extreme, the irregularly shaped paving stones are actually a finely tuned jigsaw puzzle of sorts.
Where CP did trump mosaics was in its versatility. Pathways, driveways, gardens, patios and pool areas all got the treatment. Another attractive factor was that you could go monochrome or use a mix of stone in complementary hues. And, to borrow a phrase from seemingly every PR working in 2002, the offering could be “ elevated” by using a contrasting mortar colour. White on slate grey was a popular option.
Here ’ s something we bet you didn ’ t know about crazy paving. Due to its popularity in our homes, it became visual shorthand in other spheres. Particularly medicine, where it can be referred to both as “ mottled and depigmented skin ” and – deep breath –“ the appearance of ground-glass opacities with superimposed interlobular septal thickening and intralobular septal thickening ” as seen on a CT scan.
While we live to liven up your dinner party/water cooler/work Zoom chat, crazy paving now taps into a green trend that we are fully behind. Namely, it lends itself to the use of repurposed and scrap materials. The odd shapes, lack of symmetry and irregular edges that might once have seen certain stones rejected become points of fascination and uniqueness. As the Romans might have said, that is bloody bonzer.
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