Development of decorative motifs for floor and wall ceramic tiles derived from ganda material culture

Abstract

This study set out to develop decorative motifs for floor and wall ceramic tiles derived from Ganda material culture. The significance of this study is the promotion of Ugandan culture through production of decorative tiles using Ganda material culture as motifs. This will keep the Ugandan culture alive through educating the young and upcoming generation by decorating the tiles using the designs from the indigenous crafts of Uganda specifically the Ganda material culture. The study set out to produce sample tiles with decorative motifs inspired by pottery from Ganda material culture. The study design was an exploratory intervention into developing decorative motifs for floor and wall ceramic tiles. Data was collected from the field using questionnaires for Ceramic dealers and masons (builders) within Kampala city, while interviews were conducted for selected individuals in order to collect information on the history of imported tiles and their use within Uganda. The process of studio work was closely supervised to register findings/results. A number of findings were registered, most of which confmned to the development of creative use of decorative motifs for floor and wall ceramic tiles derived from Ganda material Culture. From the findings, conclusions were drawn one of the major ones being that the use of Ganda material culture is of the essence in transmitting creative use of traditional culture in decorating floor and wall tiles. Finally, several proposals which were made aimed at highlighting the creative use of traditional culture to decorate floor and wall ceramic tiles in Uganda.