Artisans Painting Delft Blue Tiles

Six painters sit at long wooden tables inside a bright workshop, brushes in hand as they add blue windmill and floral motifs to white ceramic tiles. Jars of blue pigment, paint palettes and stacks of finished tiles surround each worker, while a sign overhead reads Ambachtelijke Tegels, Delfts Blauw. Tall windows along one wall look out over a canal town with a windmill, church spire and arched bridge in the distance. Blue-and-white plates, jugs and vases line the shelves and hang framed on the walls, and potted ferns and red geraniums sit along the windowsill. Crates of packaged tiles are stacked near the floor, and an open doorway reveals a back room lined with more supplies. Every tile leaving these tables carries its own hand-painted scene, ready to be set beside the next.