At Friday’s Tile Association Awards – the most prestigious annual event for the UK tiling industry – the title of Tile Fixer of the Year was awarded to Sharon Taylor of Viva Tiling.
It was great to see this inspiring female tiler walk up to collect her much-deserved award at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel, London at the event, which was hosted by TV celebrity Emma Jesson.
And, before any political-correctness detectors start to twitch, while Sharon was short-listed by a panel of expert TTA judges, the result was decided by public vote.
I will let Sharon tell her tale in her own words, because they say it all. “I have always been creative with my hands, having worked within the packaging design industry for over 20 years. Following redundancy in 2007, I decided to retrain in wall and floor tiling and completed a course with Specialist Trade Courses at Harlow, Essex, and Viva Tiling was born.”
“A couple of months after finishing the course I went on to do the Bisazza Mosaic Course ran by STC, which introduced me to mosaics. It was suggested I complete the Advanced Bisazza course at their headquarters in Vincenza, Italy, which I went on to do in November 2008. By this time I was absolutely convinced I wanted to work with mosaics. I also completed a Victorian Geometric tiling course and have attained an NVQ Level 2 qualification in wall and floor tiling.”
“A position as instructor came up at STC and I was contacted by one of the owners, asking me if I would consider working for them, as they had been very impressed with my work. I went on to be employed by them for approximately one year, during which time I learned a great deal and was also able to refine my own skills, although being a full time mosaic fixer was my ambition.”
“A leisure and wellness contractor looking for a mosaic installer for a steam room was given my card and I found my niche. My first steam room consisted of four different mosaics and a curved vaulted ceiling (groin vault). I have since then developed a reputation for working on steam rooms, ice fountains, spa baths, curved seating and shower units, basically any surface that requires mosaics.”
”In short, I am a female tiler who provides a reliable, personal and professional tiling service.”
And, as these pictures show, Sharon’s skill and dedication means that her happy customers truly are assured of work of the very highest standards.
Congratulations, Sharon!
I will be covering some of the other 22 TTA Award winners in future editions of Tile Addict. Information on all the winners will feature in the June 2017 edition of Tile & Stone Journal.
A new post by Joe Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict. May 2017.