“Tile Tales: The Lives and After-Lives of Iconic Flooring” seeks to archive tessera tiles in Hong Kong and encaustic tiles in Sindh, surfaces that have phased out in favour of other building material over recent decades but have been revived as cultural memorabilia. It explores the design choices and the historical conditions that led to their once widespread adoption as the building surfaces of choice in both places, and inquires into the more recent processes that have injected new cultural significance into the tiles. Through chronicling the remaining tiles in both regions and documenting the stories and memories around them, the project ultimately investigates how design plays an integral role in the process of remembering and creating ‘identity artifacts.’ By doing this, this project seeks to carry out the important work of preserving narratives, documenting cultural histories and tracing the life-cycle of iconic tiles.
“Tile Tales: The Lives and After-Lives of Iconic Flooring” seeks to archive tessera tiles in Hong Kong and encaustic tiles in Sindh, surfaces that have phased out in favour of other building material over recent decades but have been revived as cultural memorabilia. It explores the design choices and the historical conditions that led to their once widespread adoption as the building surfaces of choice in both places, and inquires into the more recent processes that have injected new cultural significance into the tiles. Through chronicling the remaining tiles in both regions and documenting the stories and memories around them, the project ultimately investigates how design plays an integral role in the process of remembering and creating ‘identity artifacts.’ By doing this, this project seeks to carry out the important work of preserving narratives, documenting cultural histories and tracing the life-cycle of iconic tiles.
“Tile Tales: The Lives and After-Lives of Iconic Flooring” is conceptualized by Fizza Qureshi, Willie Siau, and Stefan Luk. Fizza is an urban planner and researcher and her work experience spans researching urban informality, world-class city making, and iconic architecture across South and East Asia. She is passionate about advocating for just and equitable cities and cultural preservation through the discipline of planning and design. Willie Siau has a background in media studies, and is currently a photographer and videographer interested in globalization, politics, and migration in and out of Hong Kong. His images have been published by international news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, TIME, and The Guardian. Stefan is an art and culture researcher, whose research in visual culture encompasses themes of memory, migration, and identity-making processes. Having worked across locales in Southeast and East Asia, he is passionate about investigating south-south cross-cultural encounters.