Behind The Design: Brocade Handmade Tile
Dec 27th 2017
In this edition of Behind The Design, we take a look at where the inspiration for our Brocade tile pattern came from.
Despite taking four years of French in high school, Julep's tile designer Kirsten Sharp had never been to mainland Europe to see if the vocabulary she studied had stuck. When she and her husband/Julep co-owner Pete realized they’d have a few extra days after visiting family in England, they decided they should hop over and find out. Oooo la la indeed!
After feverishly studying the “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Learning French” on the train ride (Kirsten declined to share how many years it had actually been since high school) she and Pete arrived in rainy Paris and spent the next several days walking everywhere they could. Here's Kirsten the night they arrived having happily found a cafe to have a glass du vin!
One of her favorite things to do in Paris was walk along the side streets and take in all the shops and architecture. She especially loved all the ironwork on the balconies.
Pete and Kirsten visited all the famous spots like the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Louvre. One of their favorite finds, however, was the fabric district near Montmartre in the 18th arrondissement. Located just down the hill from Sacre Coeur, there is a small cluster of fabric shops which have every kind of fabric you could imagine. Kirsten spotted several kinds of French brocade which inspired one of our tile patterns, aptly named “Brocade”:
Shown above: Brocade handmade tile in Steel Gray | Photo credit: Nika Perkins