Our happy find yesterday: Beautiful tiles in such fun, fun patterns and colors!
I\’ve long been a fan of these \”painted\” tiles– which I mistakenly thought of as Vigan tiles– and first re-encountered them in a boutique shop in Cambodia last March 2011:
My friends and I fell in love with that place (we put up Estela Shop right after that trip) — all the colors and mishmash of lines and curlicues were just a feast for the senses!
More recently, I visited a friend\’s home in Manila, redesigned with an Industrial-Homey mindset (sounds familiar :P). Lo and behold he had these pretty handmade tiles lining his foyer, and looked surprised when I had no idea they were called Machuca tiles.
Turns out Machuca tiles are locally-made cement tiles by the Machuca family, with clients such as Antonio\’s in Tagaytay:
These tiles from yesterday, found just along the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay road, are Malaga Tiles (in Spanish: Baldozas y Azulejos de Cemento), handcrafted designer tiles made by Habitiles, also a Filipino company:
The Malaga Tiles we are presenting here are handcrafted cement tiles. These types of cement tiles were introduced, and subsequently produced by the Spanish colonists in the Philippines during the 18th century. Large scale production of these tiles continued until the 1930\’s.
We have rediscovered this old craft and have started producing tiles based on the old methods.
Our wide array of designs includes those of Spanish origin, Islamic influenced patterns as well as antique tile designs from the other European countries. We also execute customers\’ own designs.
I asked the man in charge, Mang Fred, what kind of paint was used for the tiles and he said, with the smile, that the pigments are in the cement. Lesson #2 for me: these pretty tiles aren\’t painted on the surface! Even if a layer gets chipped off, you\’ll still have that pattern and color in tact.
Imagine working at home with these pretties for company!
Embossed tiles for wall accents:
Even chairs can get these pretty accents:
I could\’ve taken this table home:
This is what I want for my entrance — each set is made of 4 tiles (30×30) at P350 each:
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If you want to check out these pretty tiles for yourself, drive up to Tagaytay from Nuvali and visit Mang Fred at Malaga Tiles. The shop will be to your right, before I-Design Furnitures and Ponderosa Village. It\’s easy to mistake it for a house, but just look for the white wall with this bell arch, adorned with 4×4 \”resurrected tiles\” (P20 each):
Yep, there’s Machuca and Malaga tiles 🙂 The paint won’t get off and you can even have your own pattern if you want as long as you meet their minimum no. of tiles requirement, they’ll make the mold for you 😉 This is based on work experience with Machuca tiles 🙂 I can give you the contact details there if you want to visit Machuca. 😉 But they’re on the North side.
claudi! thanks for the tip. Are the pricepoints for machuca tiles the same?
What I know is they’re quite close to each other but Machuca’s price is a bit higher, I think… if I remember it right, hehe!
Okay, thanks again dear:)
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Machuca tiles are cheaper, but I like Malaga’s designs more.
can you give me the excat address of the malaga factory/shop in tagaytay, and a contact number if any? thanks.
do you have the telephone number of this place? thanks
Pwde ba akong puli o buli ng tiles sa pamagitan ng FB para makita lahat ng design ng telis ninyo.
hi good pm! may iba pa ba kayong contact number? mag inquire ako ng machuca tiles. thank you.
Hi Michael, The information I have is almost 4 years old so it may be best to just visit their shop directly. Best of luck!