Melanie Gibson
School of Oriental and African Studies
London University
The ceramics of Syria, Turkey and Iran, first seen at a series of international exhibitions held in London and other European capital cities in the second half of the 19th century, had a transformative effect on English domestic production. The subsequent growth in the use of glazed wall-tiles in Victorian domestic architecture seems in part to have been inspired by the Islamic custom of decorative architectural cladding. This new taste for brightly coloured tiles was both encouraged and satisfied by the products of newly-founded industrial tile manufacturers such as Minton Hollins, and Maw & Co., as well as the craftsman-designer William de Morgan.