Page 42 - may2022

Art in the garden - tiles

Dry climates, like Botswana’s require
careful water management, much
like the beautiful Middle Eastern and
Islamic gardens with similar climatic
conditions. These regions provide a
rich heritage to draw inspiration from,
especially in their use of ornamental
tiles in the garden.

Deserts can be dry, brown, windy
places with little water, and so
creating secluded gardens out of the
wind, with beautifully coloured tiles,
and fountains that trinkle water in the
heat of the day, is exactly what one
would envision as the ideal getaway.
A sanctuary to escape the elements.

Islamic potters created four main tile
decoration techniques; lustre
decoration, tile mosaic, cuerda-seca,
and under-glaze painting and the
tiles created with these techniques
are some of the most significant and
inspirational in the history of tiles,
seen from gardens in the south of
Spain, to Morocco, Turkey, all the way
to Iran and Uzbekistan.

Their beautiful designs can only but
compliment the most simple of
gardens, and can be just a small
touch around a fountain, pathway,

or wall. S.C
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