COOL POOLS 05/27/08

Words :: Natasha Evdokimoff // Images :: Craig Bragdy Design

A swimming pool by its very nature is an attractive oasis. But a work of art? Now that’s truly refreshing. Craig Bragdy Design, a family-owned company based in North Wales, U.K., is exalting swimming pools around the globe, leaving standard “blue bodies” light years behind in favour of brilliantly coloured ceramic tile mosaics, custom designed to suit their clients’ tastes and imaginations. “We look at a pool as a large, blank canvas,” says Julie Hutton, of CBD. “The inherent possibilities are endless. Our designers and artists transform clients’ ideas into stunning works of art through clay, oxides, glazes and lustres.”
The CBD portfolio reads, or rather looks, something like a child’s fairytale storybook, depicting a whimsical array of scenes and settings that range from coral reefs teeming with life to whirling, comet-filled skies and fields filled with wildflowers and butterflies.
Each is a spectacular display of creativity and packs incredible visual wallop. It’s clear at first sight that every CBD pool is a one-of-a-kind original, but more than uniqueness, the impact of the work is felt most strongly by way of contrast. Even at their most luxurious, standard whitewash pools look, for lack of a better term, watered-down by comparison.
“We have clients the United States, the Middle East, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, and across Europe,” says Hutton. “It’s complete customization that attracts our clientele. We don’t do stock work. Every mural is original made from one hundred percent handmade ceramic tile.”
The process begins with a consultation between CBD directors and the client, where ideas are tossed about and the concept for the pool takes shape. Once the design has been approved, ceramic artists draw the mural out on malleable clay that is laid out on a prepared surface in full size of the actual pool.
Textures and three-dimensional features are achieved during the second phase of production – the modeling phase, using liquid clay and oxides for the desired effect. The mural is then cut into small pieces. Each cut is carefully considered beforehand to ensure enhancement of the overall whole design.
“No two pieces of tile are the shame shape or size. They vary from small mosaic-size pieces up to 500 mm long,” explains Hutton.

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