© Greg Niemeyer Recently (22 December 2012),
another instance of the tiling has been found, as a flooring (above), rather
than as a pavement as previously. Such a development is most surprising, and
totally unexpected. My correspondent, Greg Niemeyer (of the US), tells me he saw this in a ‘downtown Cairo apartment block’ (in 2008), and on this flooring taking
his interest, upon enquiring with local friends, they informed him that this
was ‘old stuff from the 1950s’, but both with no more detail forthcoming. However
I am extremely wary here with the latter detail in particular, but for now at
least I am prepared to take this at face value, with due caution. (I am aware
that in Cairo what is reported as fact is not necessarily so; see
manufacturing page.) Such an ‘early’ date for the tiling, if indeed true, thus
predates the earliest pavement instances, of ‘1960s’ (at the American University in Cairo). Therefore, this sighting is of the utmost
significance on two counts (with due reservation):
1. The oldest sighting 2. A new form of the design (as flooring) Of note is that the tiles are exactly of the same type of pentagon as of the pavings (with the same collinearity), but are of a much smaller scale, with tiles of about 3-4 inches sides – observe the photographer’s feet on the right hand side of the picture for an indication as to scale. Five colours are used; black, white, yellow, reddish-brown, blue. Curiously, black, white, yellow, reddish-brown are commonly used as colours for the larger single pentagon. However, there has never been an instance of blue. Note that the colouring ‘arrangement’ is arbitrary. From this sighting therefore questions arise as to the order of developments – was the tiling first made as a floor tiling, and then later made as a paving? This is how it would appear at first glance. However, this is conjecture; it may well be that the pavements are 1950s as well! One cannot be too dogmatic here with so much uncertainty as to order and date. It would seem unlikely that it would be formed independently; the coincidence would be too great i.e. two pentagon pavers, and of the same type. However, what can explain the previous lack of sightings of this kind (flooring)? It would seem unlikely to be a one-off occurrence; presumably it must have been made in bulk, in relative terms, but if so why is it not seen elsewhere? Seemingly as ever with the investigation, there are inexplicable aspects. There are no previous accounts of this, and none of my investigators have seen it elsewhere. As ever, a series of open-ended questions arises, of which I invite response from interested readers: Has anyone seen this flooring elsewhere? What is its background? What company made it? Is a 1950s date feasible? Where exactly is the ‘downtown Cairo apartment block’? (We would like to examine this flooring in situ for more possible clues as to background) Or indeed, any other comments or suggestions on this are warmly welcomed.
Created 3 January 2013
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