Trencadís

Trencadís (Catalan pronunciation: [tɾəŋkəˈðis]), also known as pique assiette, broken tile mosaics, bits and pieces, memoryware, and shardware, is a type of mosaic made from cemented-together tile shards and broken chinaware. Glazed china tends to be preferred, and glass is sometimes mixed in as well, as are other small materials like buttons and shells. Artists working in this form may create random designs, pictorial scenes, geometric patterns, or a hybrid of any of these.

Although as a folk art the method itself may be centuries old, the two most commonly used terms are both of modern origin. Trencadís, a Catalan term that means 'broken up', and by extension, 'broken up tiles', is the name for this method as it was revived in early 20th century Catalan Modernisme, while pique assiette is a more general name for the technique that comes from the French language. In French, pique assiette ('plate thief') is a term for a scrounger or sponger, and thus as a name for this mosaic technique, it refers to the recycled or 'scrounged' nature of the materials.