vertical surfaces

When I first entered the watershaping industry in the late 1970s, one of the details to which I took an immediate dislike was the practice of wrapping the tile that covered the walls of raised bond beams around the corner and onto step risers and various other vertical hardscape surfaces found around pools and spas.   We've all seen it - Spanish Colonial Revivalist tiles of questionable authenticity, extra-bold in color and used to cover highly visible vertical surfaces.  To me, these swaths invariably look out of place and have the effect of drawing attention to features that often don't warrant or benefit from the emphasis.   It happens to this day because