| Just what is pique assiette mosaic? The short answer | | | | responsibility for the mosaics of the snake-like bench |
| is that pique assiette is a style of mosaic that | | | | and the ceiling of the hypostyle "Hall of a Hundred |
| incorporates pieces of broken ceramics - plates, | | | | Columns". It was an established practice (known as |
| dishes, cups, tiles - and other found objects into the | | | | trencadis) to use broken, waste tiles as a cladding to |
| design. The longer answer, to think about the appeal | | | | a building - this was a technique well suited to the |
| and expressiveness of pique assiette, must take in | | | | curved, organic surfaces GaudI designed into his |
| ideas of lateral thinking, humour, the art of recycling, | | | | buildings. |
| and the significance of found objects. | | | | Jujol, however, took this to another level. He broke |
| The basic idea is an old one. Roman mosaicists used | | | | whole tiles and fitted them to the curves of the |
| pieces of terracotta vessels to obtain red colours in | | | | structures and also used tiles he had fired and |
| their work and also glass from broken bottles. | | | | inscribed himself. In another bold statement, he |
| In Britain, fragments of the red-glazed Samian ware | | | | incorporated broken coloured bottles, fragments of a |
| (imported from Gaul) were used. Any busy mosaic | | | | broken china doll and broken plates from his own |
| workshop would surely have scavenged and | | | | dinner service. He created a collage of items personal |
| stockpiled the otherwise worthless broken items, | | | | to him in a style that has inspired and excited millions |
| rather than buying them when needed. | | | | of people since then. |
| There is a long tradition of using discarded materials | | | | What does "pique assiette" mean? The term "pique |
| in the creation of something new. This is particularly | | | | assiette" for a mosaic of broken crockery originates |
| true of building materials, but a prime case of the | | | | in the activities of Raymond Isidore of Chartres, |
| pique assiette principle is in the reconstruction of | | | | northern France, who became known by the name |
| medieval stained glass. | | | | "Picassiette". In 1930s France, Isidore began the |
| A large number of glass windows were deliberately | | | | obsessive enrichment of his entire property (inside |
| destroyed during religious upheavals such as the | | | | and out) with intricate and decorative mosaics of |
| Reformation or the Puritanism of the English Civil War. | | | | salvaged shards, and his house came to be called La |
| In many instances the fragments were re-assembled | | | | Maison Picassiette. |
| into new windows, such as Winchester Cathedral's | | | | The nickname he was given suggests that his |
| West Window, or the Erpingham Window at Norwich | | | | neighbours were not enthusiastic about his |
| Cathedral (right). The challenge to create something | | | | achievements. In French, a "pique-assiette" is a |
| new, spectacular and meaningful from the precious | | | | scrounger, sponger or gatecrasher, someone whose |
| shards was addressed in different ways at different | | | | interest in stealing a plate would generally be the |
| sites. | | | | food on it. |
| There are examples on a domestic scale too. "Putty | | | | "Picassiette" may well be a pun on "Picasso", while |
| pots", popular in Victorian times, were jugs, plates or | | | | "piqué" can mean "crazy" or "nuts". Despite this |
| other household items spread with a layer of putty | | | | early disdain, 30,000 people a year visit "La Maison |
| or plaster. Various personal "treasures", such as | | | | Picassiette" these days, and the term "pique assiette" |
| pieces of crockery, jewellery or glass would be | | | | is used around the world. |
| pressed into this and allowed to set in place. Also of | | | | It's an interesting thought that perhaps the way this |
| note are African funeral traditions of decorating | | | | nickname was invented was unconsciously mimicking |
| gravesites and "mourning vessels" with items recalling | | | | what Isidore was doing. It took pieces of language, |
| the life that had passed. These might include | | | | broke them up and created something new, just as |
| crockery and trinkets. The artefacts used in these | | | | he did with crockery. |
| examples had a particular significance, because they | | | | La Maison Picassiette is often quoted as an example |
| were specially selected and related directly to the | | | | of "outsider art" or "art brut", because Isidore had no |
| maker or the mourned person. | | | | artistic training or connection with the art world. Pique |
| This folk art practice crossed over into the world of | | | | assiette mosaic has found a place in the work of |
| "formal" architecture in Barcelona in the early 20th | | | | other outsider artists too. Certainly the materials are |
| century, thanks to the architect Josep Maria Jujol. | | | | generally inexpensive and accessible, and their |
| Jujol was collaborating with GaudI on the Guell Park | | | | durability has allowed the creation of visionary |
| (constructed between 1900 and 1914) and took | | | | constructions |