XENIA TALER

Partners Xenia Taler and Steven Koblinsky have been designing tiles (Xenia), and crafting the clay and glazes (Steven) in their Toronto studio since 1996. Steven's craft knowledge and technical understanding of ceramics enable Xenia to experiment with different glaze techniques and to constantly evolve her imagery.

Xenia's modern interpretation of folk design has been recognised and appeared on stationary, ceramics, fabric and wall hangings for companies such as Barnes and Noble and Urban Outfitters.

In addition to tiles, the studio produces vases, picture frames and keepsake boxes.

Xenia's tiles are either pressed in wood moulds, extruded or slip cast. The glazes are mixed from scratch, and all tiles are handpainted without the use of screens or stencils. Images are kept consistent through the use of a technique employed in the production of Delft tiles - a piece of paper is perforated with the outline of the design; the paper is then held to the tile and pounced with graphite or charcoal. The resulting outline is then used as a guide and burns out in the firing.