In this day and age of cost saving innovations and modular concepts in the construction industry all too often the beauty of hand made elements are overlooked. It's easy to understand why especially when cost and budget is very often a factor. Why spend money on expensive handmade materials that offer very little advantage over factory made, mass-produced materials that are considerably cheaper.
For centuries Thailand had a clay brick industry. If you were building something from brick then those bricks were hand made in hot dusty kilns scattered around the country. Usually these were small family businesses that simply provided bricks and earthenware to the local construction industries.
Nowadays you buy bricks from massive construction suppliers and I assume most of them are made in China or in huge automated factories in the industrial zones of outer Bangkok.
I recently stumbled across a lovely family still hand making clay bricks to order. They had a small business that was fourth generation on the outskirts of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand and it made such an impression on me that I was determined to incorporate their bricks into my next project. Imagine their shock when I ordered 30,000 of them hahaha.
Here are the two tiny little kilns that the lovely husband and wife team do all the bricks in.....
After they bricks are made they hand paint every brick. Here are some pics of me experimenting with the green colour that I have decided on for the elements of the villa.
After the green paint has cured each brick gets treated with a propane blow torch to give it a unique aged look. I had great fun playing with the blow torch until I settled on the look and style I wanted and then agree with the owners how to do on each brick. (All 30,000 of them!)
After we agreed on the colour of the bricks and the texture I went back down to Phuket and waited for them to call me for the first round of QA - they wanted to show me the clay bricks as they came out of the kiln before they started the painting and burning process so I headed up to Chiang Mai after a couple of months to see how they were progressing.They had made the first few thousand and were excited to show me......
They were just great and each one had the little imperfections that gave them their own character - that is the beauty of hand made clay brick and was exactly the result i was looking for. Another month passed and they summoned me to Chiang Mai again to inspect the first round of Painted bricks. I was so happy and I just love how I am helping these small business owners put money in their pockets.....
So I know by now readers you are thinking so what am I going to do with all these green bricks? My plan is to use them as external elements on a villa project that I will go in to more detail about on my next post. Here are some of the renders that include the green brick walls. I plan to use them as part of the villa boundary facade facing the road and also as partitions within the villa where airflow is required for venitlation.....
I hope you enjoyed this little story about my green bricks. Soon I will be able to update you with pictures of them going into place as the villa project is nearing that phase of the construction schedule. I cant wait to se how it will look. Soon I will be heading back up to Chiang Mai to see the next round of bricks. Thanks for reading and until next time Hivers!
Can't wait to see the perfect outcome on the villa 😉
Such a good taste of colour, I live greens🤗🤗
I think the green will suit nicely with the tropical gardens..:)
Yeah, same here
Oh nice - I should learn Twitter one day..:)
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That's wonderful! There's actually a small family business close to me in Samui who make cinder blocks manually under a couple of big 'tents'. It's so nice how some small traditional businesses can continue to prosper in these days of mass industry and globalisation.
Best wishes and looking forward to seeing the next post :-)
Yes it wonderful to see these traditional methods still in use around the country. And although it does add to construction costs I think its a valuable addition to personalising a home or villa. My clients love it and they did not mind the additional expense for this unique feature.
Nice initiative! This redeems the work of small business owners and allows them to appreciate PROFESSIONALITY that the big distribution lines have undone!
I'm sure this experience has given you notions about bricks that you didn't know until then and certainly wouldn't have known through DIY centers scattered all over the world.
Thanks! Im already thinking how to use these clay bricks in a different shape and colour for another project...:)
Whoaa, are you serious about making your own bricks for your villa project? it's really cool!
Thank you! Not all the bricks - just the feature walls on the facade and some of the interior walls. But the main structure is regular concrete block and render.
Interesting story @seancallow! Apart from merely admiring completed buildings, I'm always fascinated by the construction processes lurking behind the scenes. Many thanks for allowing us to peek at those handmade clay bricks for your villa project! It would be a thrill to see how the final result would turn out. 👍😊
I can imagine the facial expressions of the husband and wife team when you mentioned 30,000 pieces of bricks, haha. 🤣 Was this their largest order so far?
I will certainly follow up on this story as the bricks become part of the structure. We have taken delivery of the first batch ready for laying.
This was their largest order to date and they have exceeded my expectations regarding delivery timelines.
I had the initial feeling this was their biggest order. They are absolutely fortunate to have met a generous client like you. 😊
Hi @seancallow, the color you selected for the bricks of the bricks is very, you do your work with much dedication taking care of every detail and quality of the materials to use; sure you will do a beautiful job with these bricks; how nice to support the artisans and make known the beautiful work they do applying ancestral methods; that family must be very happy with the brick order you made, I look forward to seeing the final result.
Greetings!
Thanks you for those kind words. Supporting the local industry is very important and I will continue to do so wherever possible!
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