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( 03 )

The material audit

Before asking what it could become, we asked what it was.

Documented period
2026 – ongoing
Location
Depot warehouse, Tasikmalaya
A heap of broken ceramic tile pieces in grey, wood-grain and pale green glazes on a wooden plank; a hand reaches in from above.
Fig. 01Broken floor tiles from unsellable stock, tipped onto a plank for sorting. 2026.· Workshop at the family depot, Tasikmalaya

The problem

"Can't be sold" is one label for many conditions. A tile with a chipped corner and a tile cracked through are both unsellable, but only one of them is useless.

Materials

Categories found
Ceramic tile, paving, brick, offcut timberProject record
Rejection rule
Sharp, crumbling, badly cracked or unknown strength → not usedDocumented

Design and production

  1. A heap of broken ceramic tile pieces in grey, wood-grain and pale green glazes on a wooden plank; a hand reaches in from above.

    01Look at what everyone stopped seeing

    The founder grew up around the depot. Damaged goods were routine. The first act of the project was to treat the routine pile as a question.

  2. A hand picking a chipped tile from a pile of broken tiles on a plank.

    02Separate by condition

    With a senior depot worker, pieces were graded by how damaged they were, whether any part was intact, and whether they were worth a second look.

  3. Close-up of tile fragments in several glazes laid in a tight mosaic inside a wooden frame.

    03Count, measure, write it down

    Type, quantity, size and condition were to be tallied so that later decisions could start from numbers. This is the part of the record that is still incomplete.

Who did what

  • Depot workersExplained what actually happens to damaged stock and graded pieces by experience.
  • FounderSet the rule that reclaimed material is never load-bearing.

Outcome

A working rule for what can be reused, and a pile that is now sorted. The quantitative tally is still to be completed and published.

Figures

Material weighed
Not yet recordedNot yet recorded

Challenges

  • Grading by eye is fast but not repeatable; two people can disagree about the same tile.

Lessons

  • Broken and useless are not the same thing. But broken and useful are not automatically the same thing either.

Current status

Ongoing

Ongoing. The tally sheet exists as a template; filling it is the next task at the depot.

Last reviewed: 2026

A heap of broken ceramic tile pieces in grey, wood-grain and pale green glazes on a wooden plank; a hand reaches in from above.
Fig. 06Broken floor tiles from unsellable stock, tipped onto a plank for sorting. 2026.· Workshop at the family depot, Tasikmalaya
A hand picking a chipped tile from a pile of broken tiles on a plank.
Fig. 07Sorting by condition: pieces with a sound body and one broken edge are kept, crumbling or sharp pieces are set aside.· Workshop at the family depot, Tasikmalaya
Close-up of tile fragments in several glazes laid in a tight mosaic inside a wooden frame.
Fig. 08A finished mosaic panel before the concrete sets: wood-grain, terrazzo and pale green fragments, edges down.· Workshop at the family depot, Tasikmalaya
Rectangular timber frames filled with grey concrete and a mosaic of tile fragments, drying on a sheet.
Fig. 09Three bench bases curing on tarpaulin: broken tile pressed into fresh concrete inside timber formwork.· Workshop at the family depot, Tasikmalaya