I hand-shaped each of these unique pottery tiles. After the first firing, I created the design through the Maiolica process. With Maiolica, the design is painted over a white tin-based glaze then fired to get a vivid painterly finish. Then I attached & grouted the tiles on an unfinished table & finished the wood on the table. It’s held up pretty well over 20+ years [except where an ex-boyfriend’s cat chewed a leg].

The design is basically a collage of many things that make my heart happy. I lived in Japan for 3 years, so the characters in the background is for “Heiwa” which is Japanese for “peace” or tranquility. Tsuru is the Japanese word for Crane. In some Asian cultures, Cranes are seen as a mystical creatures that live for thousands of years. [Let’s hope that works out for this Crane]. Thus, Cranes are seen as symbols of longevity, good luck, and happiness. There are also trees, leaves, shooting stars, seashells, a wave, and a dolphin—because I love them all. My goal was to create an illusion that the top right corner is being pulled down to reveal the wave & dolphin. On the back side of the pulled down section is an darkened homage to Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.”

All of that in 1 coffee table? No wonder it is so heavy!