Tomette
Tomette ( occitan . Tometa ) is a mostly equilateral, hexagonal , also square terracotta tile from France . In Provence they were made exclusively hexagonal.
history
Tomette production in France first flourished in the 18th century, when the tomette replaced the floorboards in new buildings . Stone flooring was considered practical, partly because less skilled knowledge was required to lay it. In addition, uneven floors and lower soil strength could be better compensated for. Better traffic routes made it possible to transport over longer distances. Over time, sophisticated shapes and a variety of colors emerged. The advantage of the hexagonal shape over the square one was that it largely prevented drying and subsidence cracks, and it has become the sole form of production, especially in Provence. The most important places of production were Apt and Salernes .
Mechanization in the 19th century gave the tomette a new boom, from which Provence in particular benefited. Another important production center in the Rhône department was the Beaujolais region .
Until the middle of the 20th century, the factories were manufacturers with a small share of machines. Different construction methods, different customer requests and other, more rational production techniques led in many places to a decline in production and the closure of many, mostly family-run manufacturing companies. In Salernes , the stronghold in Provence, most of the initial 53 companies closed between 1913 and the late 1950s. Today there are still 17 production facilities, some of which have also diversified into other clay products such as utility ceramics.
technology
The palm-sized stone tiles are rolled from clay containers weighing around 15 kilograms and cut to fit with a wire mesh. The material is leather-hard. Waste is used entirely for new production. After that, they are layered and fired in an oven. The fire with subsequent cooling takes about a week. During this time, a parallel oven that has previously burned tiles is cleared out and reloaded so that a continuous work cycle is guaranteed.
While darker colors are used in the north of France, they are rather lighter in the south, but their use also makes them darker in color nuances between beige, brown and red. The tiles, which were fired at up to 1150 degrees Celsius, were around one centimeter thick . The edge length varied from company to company in order not to be compatible with other manufacturers. During installation, the tiles were placed on a layer of lime under which there was a mixture of earth, sand and lime. The tomettes were not slurried or plastered, but held precisely in position thanks to their accuracy of fit, their neat laying and their weight.
The backs of the tomettes were given a manufacturing stamp, on the one hand to identify the manufacturer after they had been fired in the shared oven, and on the other hand for future customers who could reorder from the same manufacturer. An extensive collection of these stamps is in the Terrarossa Museum in Salernes.
Trivia
In the south-east of France, in the Massif Central and in Savoy , a cheese of the same name is made in the same form based on the example of the tomettes.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Charme et raffinement de la tomette terre cuite hexagonale , Céramiques du Beaujolais (French)
- ^ Historique , Salernes, official website (French)
- ↑ Information board in the Terrarossa Museum
- ↑ Tomette artisanale de fabrication française , Céramiques du Beaujolais
- ^ Terrarossa Salernes , official website
- ^ Jennifer Greco: La Fête du Fromage - Tomette des Corbières. Blog post, 2008 (English)