Maw & Co have made earthenware encaustic and geometric floor tiles since 1850, when the company was established by George Maw and his brother Arthur.
Their first factory was in Worcester and 1883 they moved to the Benthall Works in Jackfield, Shropshire (now Craven Dunnill Jackenfield). The new, purpose-built factory was the largest tile works in the world and the company was the world’s largest producer of ceramic tiles, making more than 20 million pieces a year.
The Tile & Design Catalogues for Maw & Co have been digitised and put online. Here you will find many examples of the inlayed/encaustic tile designs that were taken from ornamental patterns, decorative borders, friezes and meanders such as: Running Dogs, Greek Keys, Palmette Frieze, Wavebands, and Guilloches.
These motifs and patterns can be found all around Scotland’s Historic buildings and domestic homes. Here we will focus on our conservation and restoration project at Huntley Gardens off Byers Road in the West End of Glasgow. Our recently restored Maws & Co entrance vestibule in one of the town houses in Huntley Gardens shows three uses of classical mosaic design that were commonly used across many Roman and Greek Floors.
Above the Stabiae, Villa Arianna, Black and white mosaic, from the first century AD. You can see this geometric pattern Replicated in this Victorian Floor taken from Maws & Co Tile Catalogue and laid in Huntley Gardens in Glasgow.
We also find in this Original Maws & Co Original Victorian Floor, two other ornamental patterns taken from Classical mosaic floors. The simple Maeander (Greek Key) with the Simple Guilloche (Wave band) with interlocking Maeander. Both of the afore mentioned designs are found in the Maws & Co catalogue and in the same Maws & Co Floor in Huntley Gradens below.
