IGNORANCE IS BLISS

Ignorance is Bliss ceramic tiles are glazed using pigments solely derived from industrial metal waste and byproducts.

Usually, these metals would be mined and undergo excessive processing. The amount of waste in the glaze is up to

40%, as ceramic glazes are a combination of base transparent glaze and pigments. Drinking water supply and soil remediation industries, which produce thousands of tonnes of residue per year are the main suppliers of metal waste for Ignorance is Bliss ceramic tiles. The collection of over 20 selected colours is the result of years of extensive research and experimentation. During the production process, each tile is touched by human hands around 9 times, leading to slight irregularities and subtle variations in shades. The collection has a distinctive look and feel and is intentionally formulated without poisonous lead and barium, which typically are common choices for bright colours. Tiles can be produced in almost unlimited quantities. Designed with a responsibility to human and environmental health, Ignorance is Bliss ceramic tiles are on the way to becoming fully circular.

Theo Pouw soil remediation, based in Weert the Netherlands generates around 30200 tonnes of various metal waste

per year. Part of that is utilised as secondary building materials for infrastructure engineering works and other purposes. Although, the big part is not recycled and stored in depots or leaves to the dumpsters. Antaviliai water

treatment plant, based in Vilnius, Lithuania (responsible to supply drinking water for half of the town residents), each

month generates around 5 tonnes of iron sludge. Similarly, the Netherlands has around 100 water production locations that produce iron residuals of comparable amounts. Hereby, those companies are facing difficulties with the disposal. Research and development show that those metals can be adapted and used in the ceramics industry. Recycling various metal waste and by-products helps to reduce the use of natural resources, contributing to lower levels of carbon emissions, less water pollution, less mining waste, and reducing the amount of energy needed to make more metal from virgin ore. Ignorance is Bliss ceramic tiles project confirms that industrially made ceramic

pigments can be replaced with the ones from metal waste. The composition is almost the same as industrially

produced colour pigments. At the moment iron, manganese, and metal mix waste from diverse industries and

processes are used for the Ignorance is Bliss ceramic tiles. In this project, surprisingly, the more contaminated the

raw material, the more vibrant the designed objects are.

Each decision regarding size and shape is made to be most energy- and cost-efficient. The various tile sizes are

adapted to the current factory production setting, so the tiles can be cut using existing knives and dried before firing,

which allows an unlimited stock. In addition, the current sizes lead to tiles being placed in cassettes saving a lot of

space during firing. Classic square and rectangular shapes save the most space, limit the occurrence of defects, and

are best for handling and efficient logistics. In order to save energy, the focus is on the low-temperature firing of

1060 C versus 1260 C.

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Created by Studio Agne