Join the Fireclay Team!
May. 14, 2013
Apr. 30, 2013
We're SO excited to have just launched our brand new Color-It tool! We have been handmaking Cuerda Seca's at Fireclay for over 15 years. Using techniques that date back to 15th century Spain we are able to produce these beautiful handmade accent pieces. With over 100 patterns and 80 lead free glazes to choose from your options are endless. What are you waiting for? Color-It!
Apr. 25, 2013
We are honored to be able to help the Reefs of Tomorrow Initiative with their coral reef rehabilitation project. We used our Debris Series Recycled Tile to custom make several unique tile shapes that are being used to study interaction between Parrot fish and coral reefs. The tile is able to serve as a sort of underwater petri dish that scientists are able to monitor over time and easily remove for study.
Here’s a little more about the Reefs Tomorrow Initiative:
“Around the world, the health of coral reefs is threatened by numerous factors including increasing temperatures, overfishing, pollution, and sedimentation. Despite these threats, some reefs show remarkable resiliency and are thriving. The Reefs Tomorrow Initiative is a collaboration among scientists from academic institutions and conservation organizations who are using computer models and field studies to investigate how healthy reefs respond to multiple and simultaneous threats. Working closely with managers and using our improved understanding of how reefs function, we are building new tools that reef stewards can use to evaluate trade-off decisions and restore reef resiliency. Members of the Reefs Tomorrow Initiative include the American Museum of Natural History, the Coral Reef Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Stanford University, University of California Santa Barbara, University of North Carolina Wilmington, and Victoria University of Wellington. Initial funding for the Reefs Tomorrow Initiative has been provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.”

The holes are drilled to allow scientists to easily attach and remove the tile


Some tiles have been scraped to encourage coral growth.
Apr. 10, 2013
Join local mosaic artist Delaine Hackney and Fireclay Tile for a garden mosaic workshop on May 18th. Delaine will help walk you through the design process as well as share a few tricks of the trade so that you can create the garden mosaic of your dreams. The Fireclay Tile boneyard will be the perfect setting for inspiration, and tons of access to colorful recycled tile for your mosaic masterpiece. Please be sure to email Delaine to save your spot. We look forward to meeting all the budding mosaic artists out there!

Mar. 25, 2013
This project was part historic renovation, part Fireclay Tile. We worked with a homeowner to give these original fish tiles from the Steinhart Aquarium new life. Fireclay made the Debris Series recycled clay field tile to complement the original fish tiles. We love to work with our customers on these unique projects and becuase everything we do is handmade, were able to match original tile sizes, moulding pieces and even glaze colors.
Mar. 15, 2013
Recently a few members of the Fireclay San Francisco team took a little time away from the daily grind to help KQED’s fundraising drive. With their lightning fast phone answering skills our Founder and Chief Ceramicist, Paul Burns, San Francisco sales mavin, Wendy Ruffier, Director of Sales, Bill Palmer, CEO, Eric Edelson and Eric’s awesome father-in-law (that’s right...we even roped family into this one), David Potter, all took their turn keeping those phones answered. Fun was had by all and we are happy we could lend a hand helping to raise over 30K in support of public radio.



Mar. 11, 2013
Remember that science project in 6th grade where your teacher made you work with classmates to build a safe egg transportation vehicle? You know, the one that was designed to keep a raw egg from cracking when 6th graders launched their eggs, tucked safely in a protective casing, into the great blue yonder. We love our science teachers for making that experience memorable, so much so, that we decided to give it a try ourselves... Fireclay Tile style.
We recently closed both of our factories for an entire day so that management could learn a little something from our production crews. The end result of these exercises proved to be more than inspirational, we were able to re-evaluate some core functions and practices within our production processes, establish greater trust amongst our teams and have a little fun, 6th grade science project style. With Jason Paskus, our Efficiency Manager at the helm, we had both our recycled glass and ceramic tile production crews meet at our ceramic factory in Aromas, CA to tackle three unique projects.

First was the The Tallest Tower project, a seemingly simple competition in office supply tower construction (you know you’ve done it). Given random quantities of the same materials, teams were asked to build a tower as tall as possible. About halfway through construction teams were asked to stop and check out their competition. Upon their return, some teams lost a little steam, some teams snagged ideas and a few teams stole the winning elements of their competitors tower construction methods. When all was said and done (and the tallest tower known) we were able to reflect upon the importance of collaboration, supporting the evident truth that all of us are far stronger than a few of us.

Second up was the packing project. Teams were asked to take on a task that hit close to home, packaging tile for safe shipment. And by shipment we mean dropping packages from 20 feet off the ground! After dividing up packing materials and tile of various shapes and sizes, teams went to work designing the strongest, safest package possible. We saw everything from tiles individually wrapped and cushioned to some of our more standard packing techniques. We were shocked by the results which proved our shipping techniques are spot on. This excites us most because it means not only does our recycled packaging separate us from the masses, so does our minimalistic approach, which helps in saving time and natural resources.

The final exercise allowed our production crew to tag our factories with post-it’s, suggesting improvements to our current production processes. Management was able to walk through the factory and see exactly where pain points in production exist, which helps in prioritizing improvements, ultimately resulting in higher efficiency and a happier production crew.
Fireclay Tile has always been more than tile, it’s people. Our production crews make every order possible. They are the most important asset to our company and the seat of many brilliant ideas. We applaud the work they put in each and everyday and thank them for their dedication to making sure that every order exceeds Fireclay Tile quality standards.
Feb. 1, 2013
We are so thrilled to announce the opening of our new Fireclay Tile San Francisco Showroom!

Our showroom features the very best of Fireclay Tile, including 9 panel displays of our tile, over 90 custom concept boards, all the colors available from our company, as well as walls of samples for viewing and displaying. There is plenty of room to visit with your own clients, and we have a professional designer, Wendy Ruffier, on staff to help with any and all of your design needs. Wendy can be reached at her email or by phone at 415-697-2044.


We are open Monday-Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM, and we are located at in Design Place East at 111 Rhode Island St., Suite F in the San Francisco Design District .
Dec. 14, 2012
Start 2013 with a Garden Mosaic Workshop with professional mosaicist Delaine Hackney. Delaine will be teaching a class at Fireclay in San Jose on Saturday, February 9 from 10.30 am to 2.30 pm. Delaine is an experienced teacher (as well as a professional mosaicist) and is very welcoming to those new to and familiar with mosaics. The class costs $90, which includes materials and the use of her mosaic tools. Please bring your lunch or feel free to walk one block to Zapata's.
If you have any questions or would like to sign up, please email or call Delaine - she'd be happy to help! You may also register for her class by clicking here.
Delaine's email/phone: delaine@delainemosaic.com 415-517-1507

Dec. 12, 2012
Recently in the Aromas factory, Fireclay Tile installed a new wastewater reclamation system for our automatic glazing machine. This machine produces wastewater that has over sprayed glaze in it. Our new system provides us with a more efficient way of collecting and re-using that wastewater.
The wastewater is pumped from our collection trench into the tank pictured. After a day or so, the solids from the glaze separate from the water and settles to the bottom of the tank. The "clean" water is then pumped out of the top of the tank and used to clean the automatic glazing machine, which sometimes happens twice a day. The used glaze that has settled to the bottom of the tank is then drained out and mixed into our clay mixes for future tile orders!
Very cool stuff!!

Wastewater tank outside Fireclay Tile factory in Aromas, California

Side view of Fireclay Tile's wastewater tank where glaze solids settle in the wastewater
Dec. 5, 2012
In October, Fireclay Tile announced that it was donating to Greenbuild’s Legacy Project. Each year the USGBC’s Greenbuild conference and expo chooses a project to thank the host city. This year the conference was in San Francisco and the Legacy Projects were two urban gardens. The funds for the projects were not only to set up the garden, but to provide support and training to keep the garden going. Check out our previous blog here.
We were very excited to support this endeavor! We decided that for every person who came to Fireclay’s booth at Greenbuild and had his or her badge scanned, we would give $1 to the Greenbuild’s Legacy Project. We gathered around 350 scans so we were able to donate $350! Below are photos from the conference.

Here is the graphic for our Greenbuild 2012 buttons

Fireclay's tweet about scanning for Greenbuild's Legacy Project

Fireclay's Wendy in the booth at the beginning of the first day of Greenbuild
On the second day of the expo, where product and service providers have booths, Fireclay closed the factories in San Jose and Aromas and brought the entire Fireclay team to San Francisco. Everyone had the chance to look around the expo at Greenbuild and have a picnic lunch. It was a great day to spend some time with co-workers, see other companies and see Fireclay tile installations in downtown San Francisco.

Hello from the entire Fireclay team in San Francisco!

The Fireclay team has a picnic lunch at Yerba Buena Gardens

Eric & Fireclay team in front of the Melt on New Montgomery St. where Fireclay's Glazed Thin Brick is installed

Dearsy, Isidro and Martin take sit down for a second during a tour of Fireclay tile installations in downtown San Francisco

Paul (in center, smiling) and some of the Fireclay Team in San Francisco

Fireclay Team on the bus to San Jose and Aromas

Paul in front of Greenbuild 2012 & the "Team Fireclay" bus
Nov. 13, 2012
Join us at Greenbuild 2012 in San Francisco on November 14-15 at the Expo. We are displaying all of our most environmentally conscious products, including our Debris Series Recycled Tile, Crush Recycled Glass tile, and Glazed Thin Brick. Our in-house designed booth is made from all reclaimed white oak courtesy of the awesome wood guys at Restoration Timber. We have included a sneak peek below!
At Greenbuild this year we are also proud to be supporting the Greenbuild Legacy Projects. We wrote previous blog about it here, and for every badge we scan at the show we will be donating $1 to this great local cause. Stop by Booth 4282N to get your badge scanned!
We also have a number of FREE expo passes still available if you are in need. Just email us at info @ fireclaytile.com with your request!
We hope to see you there!
Jason Paskus in front of the booth mid-assembly
Oct. 14, 2012
Fireclay becomes a butterfly for Mission Kids Co-op in San Francisco!

Recently, Fireclay donated tile to Mission Kids Co-op pre-school in San Francisco to transform their “dull courtyard” into a “whimsical, child-like world of color through mosaics.”
The area for the mosaic was a two-story cinderblock wall in pale yellow. A grant was written by Erin Farrell and supported by First 5 of San Francisco. The grant specified parents and children work together to create the mosaic. Apparently, it was so much fun that prior students, grandparents, children from the local church and general contractors broke the tile and adhered it to a mesh that was later adhered to the wall.

Close-up of Butterfly at Mission Kids Co-op
Dana Albany is the mosaic artist that pulled the large project together. It took a month and a half to complete. Dana worked with the 3 to 5 year olds between snack time, nap time, story time and park outings. The children broke the tile in plastic bags and affectionately called it “making magic.”


Detail of mosaic with Fireclay Tile
The end result was a butterfly in the center with a wingspan of 9 feet surrounded by flowers and animals. Per Dana Albany:
“The butterfly is surrounded by flowers and leaves, in every color imaginable provided by the intrinsic palette of tiles donated by Fireclay. There is a parrot perched atop exquisite tiles sculpted as tree branches, a fantastic representation of the diversity of tile Fireclay carries. Specialty Fireclay tiles include a monkey, turtles, frogs, and birds making the mosaic a mystical journey to explore and find its hidden treasures. At summer's end, the mosaic had attained its vision of beauty, love, community, and collaboration! Thank you Fireclay! For bringing ever-lasting "magic" to the Mission Kid's Co-op!!!! It is just the Beginning!!!"
Fireclay Boneyard in San Jose - a resource for mosaic artists!
Fireclay encourages all mosaic artists, or those interested in mosaics, to come to our San Jose location and visit our Boneyard. Overstocks, seconds and stocked tile can all be found at a great discount in the Boneyard. There is even a mosaic box where we have a mixture of tile. The inventory changes daily. We also encourage people involved in projects similar to the Mission Kids Co-op mosaic to contact us to see Fireclay can help donate to the project.
To find out more:
Dana Albany, mosaic artist, danaalbany@juno.com, 415.871.1261
Mission Kids Co-op in San Francisco
First 5 San Francisco
Fireclay Tile
Oct. 8, 2012
Fireclay Tile is very excited to support Greenbuild’s 2012 Legacy Project in San Francisco!
This year the USGBC, the US Green Building Council, is holding their annual international conference and expo, Greenbuild, on green building in San Francisco in November. Not only is Fireclay Tile an exhibitor, but we are also a proud supporter of Greenbuild’s 2012 Legacy Project.
Background
Since 2003, Greenbuild has had a Legacy Project in the host city to service, educate and thank the host city. Earlier this year, the USGBC Northern CA Chapter and Greenbuild committee members reached out for proposals. The goals of the projects are to increase the quality of life in an environmentally positive manner, give back to the community and service a big area of San Francisco.
Legacy Project Chosen
By the deadline, 20 proposals were received ranging from projects involving primary schools, bathrooms in public areas, public gardens and science-based programs. After tough review, the panel decided upon two urban gardens in San Francisco: Potrero Hill Texas Street Farm and The Tenderloin Vertical Garden.

Potrero Hill Texas Hill Garden

The Tenderloin Vertical Garden
Green Element: Longevity
What isn’t so obvious about this year’s Legacy Project is that the funds are not merely for initial set-up. Funds from this project are also used for managing and maintaining the seedbeds as well as training youth from the community to run the program.
Being in-line with so many of Fireclay’s values, Legacy Project 2012 has us especially Fired Up! We will be donating proceeds based on several initiatives we are doing at the show.
For more information:
USGBC Northern California Chapter, http://www.usgbc-ncc.org/
Greenbuild, http://www.greenbuildexpo.org/home.aspx
Oct. 1, 2012

Kitchen by EAG Studios with Fireclay Debris, White Gloss in Paseo on back wall
This summer we decided to have photos taken of beautiful, local installations of Fireclay Tile. We hired a local photographer, Malcolm Fearon, who has a background in sports, portraiture, product and architectural photography. Basically, he has done it all. After working with him and seeing his finished product, it is clear he is a professional with stringent standards and an eye for detail.

Malcolm in front of Let’s Be Frank in San Francisco with camera and light reflector (on left)

Malcolm Fearon's photo of Fireclay’s Claymonde in a custom red color in front of Let’s Be Frank in San Francisco
The following photos show how much work and preparation go into a “simple” photograph of an outdoor fireplace. Note the large reflectors blocking the view from across the garden.

Malcolm and Shanti set up for the fireplace shot

Malcolm Fearon's fireplace photograph with Fireclay’s Debris and Cuerda Seca

Malcolm and Shanti setting up for a kitchen shot

Malcolm Fearon's finished shot of the kitchen designed by Kelly Dougherty featuring custom Cuerda Seca Decoratives
To get a photo like this:

Madeleine Randal designed this bathroom using Fireclay's Vitrail Series in Odyssey for field tile and hexagons in Celadon (on floor).
Malcolm had to do something like this:

Malcolm Fearon doing a close up of another bathroom using Fireclay's hexagons in Vitrail Series in Shell
Malcolm can be reached via his website www.blissimages.com, email mal@malcolmfearon.com or at 415.488.4695.
In the process of taking photographs, we were able to get to know a builder, a couple of designers and tile installer who have been faithful Fireclay customers.
Zicovich Builders has been working with Fireclay for many years and referred interior designer Kelly Dougherty to Fireclay Tile. Kelly collaborated with the Peninsula homeowners to create a well-functioning space to reflect their personality and lifestyle. Kelly originally started in fashion, but went on to get more education in interior design and has loved it ever since. She can be reached at kelly@kdhomeinteriors.com or 408.838.7928.
Zicovich Builders can be reached via their website, www.zicovich.com, email info@zicovich.com or 408.399.0606.

Home on the Peninsula built by Zicovich Builders. Photo by Benardo Grijalva.

Kelly Dougherty of KD Home Interiors, kelly@kdhomeinteriors.com or 408.838.7928
Another interior designer and faithful Fireclay customer is Madeleine Randal. She was a vital component to the remodel of a 1929 Colonial Revival home in the South Bay (see photos below). Given Madeleine’s father was the head of the San Jose State Interior Design program, she too became an interior designer (with a break to become a lawyer at a local top Valley law firm) and now has over 20 years of experience. She has designed all aspects of contemporary to historic homes. To Madeleine, every detail matters. She can be reached at madeleine.randal@gmail.com or 408.288.8381.

Interior designer Madeleine Randal. She can be reached at madeleine.randal@gmail.com or 408.288.8381

Madeleine Randal used Fireclay's Vitrail Series in Crater Lake in a pattern to match original patterns in the 1929 Colonial Revival home. Crater Lake was used for decoratives and Sesame was used for field tile.
Not all of Fireclay’s installations were interiors. In a shopping mall in Willow Glen, Precision Tile and Granite installed our Debris Series Recycled Tile in a variety of colors the exterior walls. Contact Marcel Sousa at Precision Tile and Granite at marcel@tgwork.com. Their website will be up after October 3, 2012 www.tgwork.com.

Shopping center in San Jose with Fireclay's Debris Series Recycled Tile
Sep. 21, 2012
Yesterday afternoon I had the honor of attending the Road to Greenbuild 2012 kick-off event hosted by the USGBC-NCC. Simply put, this event was inspirational and got me FIRED UP for this year's GreenBuild. I had the pleasure of sitting next to representatives from Google as well as Mary Davidge of Mary Davidge Associates.
The event kicked off with Dan Geiger, Executive Director, USGBC-NCC, introducing the California Best Buildings Challenge. This is an amazing contest amongst California buildings/companies to reduce a building's energy, water and waste by 20% in just 2 years. The contest was inspired by the White House’s Better Buildings Challenge that seeks 20 percent energy reductions by 2020, and the USGBC-NCC took this challenge to another level. representatives from the 13 participating companies were in attendance, including the giants of industry such as Google, SAP, and Genentech.

Dan then introduced the Founding CEO of the UGSBC, Rick Fedrizzi. This is when the program got really exciting. Rick had put together a great presentation telling the founding story of the USGBC. Founded in 1993 by David Gottfried, David and Rick's goal was quite simple, as Rick tells it. Yup, that's right. Their goal for the USGBC was as follows:
Step 1: Create New Industry
Step 2: Improve Lives
Step 3: Change the World
Step 4: Go out of Business!!!

It was quite radical, but now almost 20 years later it is incredible what the USGBC has been able to accomplish. Since 2000 when the LEED rating system was established there have been over 180,000 LEED buildings certified. The graph below outlines the rapid pace of LEED growth worldwide! Simply incredible.

Rick and Dan's talks got the entire room excited for the Greenbuild 2012 event in San Francisco November 14-16. Fireclay will be attending and showing off some of our newest designs, so let us know if you will be around and want to stop by. We are also excited to announce our Charity Partner for the Greenbuild event - the Greenbuild Legacy Projects supporting Potrero Hill Texas Street Farm and the Tenderloin Vertical. These are especially meaningful since they are in the Bay Area and local to where we manufacture our products.
And if you want to learn more about the USGBC or its Northern California Chapter here is some additional information.
About USGBC-Northern California Chapter (USGBC-NCC)USGBC-NCC is one of the largest USGBC Chapters in the country, with 22,000+ constituents, 10,000+ LEED accredited professionals, and more than five percent of the world’s LEED-certified square footage. The chapter hosts more than 150 annual events, workshops, and conferences with regional, national and international organizations throughout Northern California, and is the leading advocate for green building in the region.
About the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. USGBC works toward its mission of market transformation through its LEED green building certification program, robust educational offerings, a nationwide network of chapters and affiliates, the annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo, to be held this year Nov. 14-16 in San Francisco, and advocacy in support of public policy that encourages and enables green buildings and communities. For more information, visit usgbc.org and follow us on Twitter @USGBC, and Facebook at facebook.com/USGBC.
Sep. 18, 2012
Have Fun with Mosaics at Fireclay - Saturday, October 20th!
On Saturday, October 20th, Fireclay in San Jose will have another fantastic Mosaic Class, instructed by Delaine Hackney, a professional mosaic artist. Delaine has taught many mosaic classes and quite a few of them at Fireclay Tile. She is a great teacher and very encouraging to beginners. Delaine will provide all tools and supplies (including Fireclay tile). Please bring your lunch or you can visit our local, Zapata's, for Mexican food.
The class is from 10.30 am to 2.30 pm on Saturday, October 20th and the cost is $90. The class will take place at Fireclay Tile in San Jose. To register or ask questions, contact Delaine at delaine@delainemosaic.com or give her a call at 415-517-1507. She'd love to hear from you!!

Sep. 9, 2012

A stack of Glazed Thin Brick
We are thrilled to announce our first charity partner donation from sales of our Glazed Thin Brick! As of June 30, 2012, we are able to donate over $400 to CORA, a local women’s organization we are so thrilled to support.
In March of this year, Fireclay launched our newest sustainable offering - Glazed Thin Brick (see press release here). This product is a partnership between Fireclay Tile and McNear Brick & Block, and it takes McNear’s recycled content, locally produced thin brick and pairs it with Fireclay’s all natural, lead-free glazes. The result is a fantastic new product that has been extremely well received by the design and architectural community, including making the cover of Architectural Products this past summer (Issue June 2012, page 47).
When we launched Glazed Thin Brick we committed 1% of all sales to charity. We made our first charity partner CORA, or Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse. Fireclay was first introduced to CORA when they were upgrading their San Mateo County facility and looking for tile, which at the time we were happy to donate.
When asked about why CORA was originally chosen, Fireclay’s founder Paul Burns said, “Fireclay was happy to donate tile to help transform the space they offer for people in need. Our tiles are handmade in the Bay Area so they give a personal touch to any living environment. It is most important that there is a safe place available for families if they are trapped in an abusive place.” With our new 1% of Glazed Thin Brick sales charity program, CORA was a natural fit!
CORA has been serving the San Mateo County since 1978 and is dedicated solely to those affected by domestic abuse. CORA’s mission is to end domestic abuse with intervention and prevention including: answering 5,000 hotline calls, providing over 750 counseling sessions and giving over 140 individuals emergency housing or transitional housing in the last fiscal year.
If you are interested in supporting CORA please visit: www.corasupport.org
We look forward to continuing our support of CORA through the end of 2012!

Aug. 10, 2012

Last Friday I had the pleasure of visiting one of our oldest customers, Concept Studio, in Corona Del Mar, California. Situated right on the Pacific Coast Highway just before hitting Laguna Beach, Concept Studio is a true treasure in the world of tile showrooms. Founded by husband and wife team Richard Goddard and Karen Bishop, the mission of Concept Studio is to inspire its customers and provide a level of service far and away above most other tile showrooms. It is truly a unique place, full of an extremely friendly and knowledgeable staff as well as a stunning curation of tile and stone.
Visiting Concept Studio is like visiting a University of tile, full of both small rooms, or classrooms, of different styles or manufacturers, as well as conference rooms where ideas can be shared and debated. Every project that Concept Studio takes on is itself a thesis, as the extent to which Richard and his team go to to advise on project is tremendous, which they then complement with detailed architectural drawings to render a true image of your project. These plans are then used on the job site to ensure any contractor will have a clear understanding of what exactly to do for installation, down to corners and cuts that guarantee a flawless execution. When you leave the beautiful showroom, you emerge into a gorgeous walkway full of lemon trees and fresh flowers in the area Richard refers to as the Concept Studio "campus," as this is where the Cottages are located that house the team's offices, drafting rooms, and accounting department. It's truly like being back at school and visiting with your professors to share ideas and get feedback. It is serene and peaceful, all clearly defined and executed by its owners and staff.



As I am an enormous candy lover, my favorite touch were the bowls of M&M's, both milk chocolate and peanut, seen all throughout the showroom. Inspired by Ralph Lauren, Richard told me, the candy is complemented by fun signs and inspiring written words seen throughout the building.

If you are looking for help on a project and live anywhere close to Concept Studio I encourage you to visit Richard and his team for inspiration!
Note: We were all saddened by the loss of Richard's wife Karen last year. In her memory, Richard has created The Mush Foundation to support people with bipolar disorder. Fireclay Tile has made a $150 contribution to The Mush Foundation in honor of Karen. To support The Mush Foundation please visit www.TheMushFoundation.org.
Aug. 9, 2012
Oh Yes They Did!
New Ravenna Mosaics did an experimental piece named "Ester" and presented the design at Coverings (industry show) in Florida earlier this year. Isn't it beautiful?! See below.

Ester
All of the colors of the pattern in Ester (except the white marble) are Fireclay's Crush recycled glass tile. The mosaic tiles of the white background are laid in an opus vermiculatum format. This arrangement allows the tiles follow the lines of the subject to emphasize the movement and flow of the flowers and stems. New Ravenna received "ooohs and aaahs" at the show and rightfully so!
New Ravenna Mosaics was founded by Sara Baldwin in 1991. She is still the creative force of the company which makes stunning mosaics in Virginia. Check out her blog here.
_432_678.jpg)
Sara Baldwin
Here are just a few of the many many designs New Ravenna has:

Peony Marble Floor

Jacqueline glass

Erin Adams Bottles Kitchen
These images were from New Ravenna's Photo Gallery.
If you’d like to learn about New Ravenna Mosaics & Sara Baldwin or Fireclay's Crush recycled glass, please click one of the links below.
Aug. 8, 2012
We are honored to have been recently featured by Bespoke Post in their latest "Box of Awesome"!
Bespoke Post is an online men's curation service that aims to help "turn [you] into a gentleman. One box at a time." Its experts work with emerging brands to hand-select products you need - everything from whiskey tumblers to an aged t-bone. Subscribe and each month we send you a new Box of Awesome. You can skip a month anytime and shipping is always free.

The August "Box of Awesome" (shown above) features some amazing items including:
- Hand-painted Cuerda Seca Coasters from Fireclay Tile
- Soy Wax Candle from Paddywax
- Siskiyou Cedar Aromatic Pouch from Juniper Ridge
- Clairefontaine “R” Notepad from Rhodia
Bespoke Post went a step further with our coasters and featured and article about Fireclay Tile, our Cuerda Seca coasters, and included some beautiful photos of the product being made in our Aromas, CA factory.
So, what are you waiting for? Get AWESOME with Bespoke Posts August Box of Awesome!
Jul. 18, 2012
Join Fireclay Tile and Wooden Window at a Community Networking Breakfast in San Francisco
Details: Wednesday, August 1st 8:30AM to 10:30AM
Wooden Window Showroom 111 Rhode Island Street, Suite F
San Francisco, California
Don’t miss the chance to meet and hear architect Mark English at our next Community Breakfast.
When he’s not pursuing his own practice, or sitting on AIA-San Francisco’s Board of Directors, Architect Mark English coaches his peers on new strategies for social media and marketing and edits two highly respected online magazines.
Mark will be showing us how we can bypass the traditional gatekeepers of conventional media to use the web, and social media in particular, to drive traffic to our websites, become more visible in the digital world and build our businesses.
Mark English, AIA has been running his own residential design firm, Mark English Architects, since 1992. Mark’s education includes a degree in Architecture from California Polytechnic University, complemented by graduate studies at the Syracuse University campus in Florence, Italy. He has also promoted principles of energy-efficient design, particularly as it relates to compliance with California’s Title 24 energy code.
Fireclay Tile is thrilled to be sponsoring this event.
To RSVP please click here: http://www.woodenwindow.com/blog/general/communitybreakfastaugust2012/