Meet Brenda Bates, the designer behind Welbeck Tiles, Britain's leading handmade tile company.
Based in Penzance on the south coast of Cornwall, Welbeck Tiles produce a beautiful and innovative collection of ceramic tiles. Brenda designs all of the tiles which are then made in a small workshop using traditional techniques which have been used in the pottery industry for over a century.
It's that time of year again when Welbeck Tiles hits the road and exhibits at various shows!
We were recently at the Business Design Centre for the very busy Country Living Spring Fair, where we launched our new gift collection. This includes smaller Postcard tiles (which are also available in gift boxes), and a selection of mugs featuring vintage adverts and postcards. They were both very popular, and we will be adding seasonal items to our range in the months to come.
Our stand at the Country Living Spring Fair a few weeks ago
Next, we will be at beautiful Trereife Park in Newlyn for the Easter Fair. You may have seen this house featured on a recent episode of Country House Rescue.
In May, we will be at the Spirit of Summer Fair from the 11th until the 14th… please come and see our latest designs on stand B8 if you can!
It took seven long years of renovating our old house before we got around to replacing our bathroom. For five years, I’d (impatiently) kept magazine cuttings featuring Welbeck Tiles – as I love flowers, I’d been attracted by the "Vintage Roses" collection, and chose glowing gold backgrounds for some of them, to lend warmth and comfort. I loved the graphic contrast of the "words" tiles, and, inspired by the "Ballerina" panel in a Welbeck brochure, decided to have an over-bath panel.
Before!
After…
I opted to use cast member's names from Shakespeare’s "A Midsummer Night's Dream" which, to me, reflect both the glamour and the banality of the bathing ritual. Plus a dose of innuendo, which my husband took to extremes by ordering, unbeknown to me, a couple of choice words himself! Luckily, Brenda Bates of Welbeck Tiles has a healthy sense of humour and did not take offence!
It was very refreshing to deal with such an accommodating company and Brenda was very helpful in producing a design which incorporated everything we wanted. This service was invaluable as knowing what you want and knowing how to achieve it are very different things. I hope to come back to Welbeck Tiles when we move on to doing the kitchen — can’t wait!
We've been really busy lately at the studio, but we thought we'd like to share Jill's newly finished kitchen with you, which she just emailed us some photos of.
She designed the panel herself, choosing favourite herbs she like to cook with. She also choose to frame it with our more unusual ribbon border, and added a sprinkling of clover leaf motifs for good luck!
Many thanks Jill for sending in your lovely photos!
Just to let you know we currently running a competition in BBC Homes & Antiques magazine until the end of September. To enter, click here to go through to their website.
Homes & Antiques has teamed up with Welbeck Tiles to offer readers the chance to win one of three sets of fantastic tiles, each worth £1,000. All of Welbeck’s tiles are designed and made in a small workshop in Cornwall, employing traditional techniques that have been in use for more than a century.
This, coupled with director Brenda Bates' eye-catching designs, means that your kitchen or bathroom will be truly unique. A complimentary design service is included, making choosing tiles hassle-free — just supply the firm with the size of the area to be tiled for suggestions and costings.
Three lucky winners will be able to choose from Welbeck's four collections:
Hi everyone, and welcome to our brand new blog! It's been a while coming, but Oliver who created our lovely website and who also happens to be my son has finally persuaded me to go with it!
Here we plan to share lots of inspirational snippets, new designs, our fabulous customers' before and after tiling stories, and a little more about who we are, and some of the things we love that inspire the work we do.
It's been a very busy summer here at the studio, with lots of orders for our new range of Patchwork tiles which we launched back in March at the Country Living Fair. You have gone crazy for them and we have loved seeing the wonderful ideas you have had for tiling with them, from gorgeous riots of colour all over, to the simple repetition of one pattern. You've really proved there are endless ways to use them and create your own unique look!
While we were at the Spirit of Summer Fair in London, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen came up to our stand and asked if he could use some of our tiles in a program he was shooting for the This Morning show. We were delighted to send him some tiles, but didn't have any idea how he was planning on using them… when we saw the program we were so pleased with the finished result. Here it is in case you missed it:
Patchwork tiles on the This Morning show
Patchwork looks set to become a firm new favourite of both ours and yours.
Read all about our latest ideas, designs and favourite things, plus a little more about who we are and what we do.
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