Tile With Style
Setting Ceramic Tile, by Michael Byrne: Taunton Press,
Newtown, Conn.; 1987; 230 pages, $17.95, paperback
At age 8, Michael Byrne, began his
odyssey to the role of tile setter when
his mother showed him some photos
of the Spanish architect Antonio
Gaudi's weird and wonderful Sagrada
Familia church in Barcelona. Years
later, motivated by the mosaic work
he had done as an art student, Byrne
steered a course to California, "the
Mecca of tilesetters." There he
apprenticed himself, spending 16 years
studying and practicing his trade. A
resident of Vermont, he now shares
his knowledge of the craft through
writing and videos.
Setting Ceramic Tile is Byrne's effort
to set down his accumulated
knowledge. Divided into two