[Note: This was written as a Guest post for the Coverings Blog, but we are also reposting on our own blog]

Fireclay Tile is excited to be attending Coverings 2012 in Orlando, Florida from April 17-20th. Fireclay Tile’s mission is to produce the most beautiful, durable ceramic products using sustainable manufacturing processes and recycled materials. We are innovators and actively engaged in developing new ceramic technologies while preserving “old world” methods. We focus on both the residential and commercial markets, and we would LOVE to meet with you at the show.

To take you back a few years, Fireclay Tile was established in 1986 by Paul Burns, our Chief Ceramicist. His Uncle, Chester, owned Stonelight Tile, one of the early California tile manufacturers. Since its inception, Fireclay Tile has been at the forefront of innovation in the ceramic tile industry. Some of our proudest moments have been switching to all lead free glazes in the 80's, inventing our Debris Series Recycled Tile in the 90's, and in the past two years launching Crush, our 100% recycled glass tile line, and our new Glazed Thin Brick line crafted from 30-100% locally reclaimed earth. We are scavengers at heart, and we are constantly looking around our local community for new waste streams to up-cycle into our products. Sustainability is just part of our DNA, and we couple it with amazing customer service focused on supporting our customers’ success. And we make everything that we sell right here in the USA!

At Coverings 2012 we will be showcasing our entire line as well as highlighting a few NEW products and collections including:

Crush 100% Recycled Glass Tile: The most eco-friendly and cost effective recycled glass tile produced in the USA. Crush is available in 40 colors in both gloss and matte finishes in 17 different shapes and sizes. Click here for our Crush 100% Recycled Glass Video.

Glazed Thin Brick: In partnership with California's oldest brick maker, Fireclay is launching 9 stunning glaze colors on a 30-100% reclaimed earth brick body. Glazed brick has never looked so good! Click here for our Glazed Thin Brick Video.

The Runway Collection by Kelly LaPlante: Come see 4 new designs by Kelly LaPlante for Fireclay Tile, all inspired by runway styles!

The White Collection: Come see Fireclay's take on white!

We are also extremely proud of our enormous Decorative Tile offering, including handpressed and handpainted decorative tiles. We are particularly passionate about our Cuerda Seca tiles, as we are one of the only to do a multicolor wax resist tile made 100% from our own materials in the USA.

Fireclay Tile has worked tirelessly to expand our national and international Dealer/Showroom network, and in 2011 we added 20 new showrooms throughout the US. We are a 26 year-old U.S. manufacturer, and in the past three years have completely revamped our business to focus on our core principles of sustainability and customer service.

We have a private meeting room (#2611) in the TCNA pavilion and we'd so very much like to meet with you. To set up a time, please email eric @ fireclaytile.com and find out why over 93% of our customers rate their overall experience as exceptional. We know you will love working with us. Plus, we make a killer margarita!

Our Vice President, Eric Edelson, will also be presenting at Coverings on Tuesday, April 17th and Friday, April 20th about How to Market Your Showroom Online. Both sessions are at noon, and we’d love for you to stop by and pick up your FREE Guide to Marketing Your Showroom Online.

Feel free to reach out to our ceramicists with any questions you have by checking out out the Fireclay Tile website, and we're also on facebook and twitter!

Obama says bring manufacturing back to the United States!

We loved watching President Obama speak tonight on the State of the Union. We took away many key ideas and thoughts, but most important for us were his bullish comments about bringing manufacturing back to the United States. The speech was certainly controversial, but for leaders what decisions are rarely ever purely consensus driven. President Obama believes, and we agree, that it is vital to the successs of our economy and the longterm survival of the United States to have a strong manufacturing base.

President Obama boldly stated that the blueprint for our road to recovery "begins with American manufacturing...So we have a huge opportunity, at this moment, to bring manufacturing back. But we have to seize it. Tonight, my message to business leaders is simple: Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed."

As a US manufacturer of ceramic and glass tile, we're making every effort to take Obama's challenge to heart. Last year we added 3 manufacturing jobs, and so far this year another 2 already. These are jobs that pay at least 30-50% above minimum wage, with an opportunity for benefits after an initial phase in period. Initiatives such as tax benefits for small business or manufacturing companies that Obama talked about are crucial to our ability to keep growing, and we fully support any and all of his goals. 

Of course we also loved hearing him talk about education and illegal immigration reform, but in truth we believe it all starts with American workers and American manufacturing. Thank you President Obama for making manufacturing such a central part of this years State of the Union.

For a full transcript of the speech click here.

The Fireclay Tile team recently had the opportunity to visit Kelly Moore Paint in San Carlos, CA. Just like so many people think all tile is made abroad, we thought the same of paint and we were surprised to find one of the most successful paint manufacturers so close to us in the Bay Area. After visiting the Kelly Moore website, we disovered that not only do they manufacture locally, they are also known for having one of the most sustainable plants in Northern California. We thought Fireclay Tile had a very sustainable manufacturing operation, though aftrer our visit to a true expert we realized we have much to learn!

Kelly Moore's plant manager, Keith Hussinger, was kind enough to invite us for a visit, so the entire leadership team and manufacturing managers joined Keith for an inspirational tour of Kelly Moore. But first, a bit of history from the kelly Moore website:

History: Kelly-Moore is one of the largest employee-owned paint companies in the United States. A leader and innovator of waterborne coating technology, Kelly-Moore was the first major paint company to offer recycled paints along with the large selection of colors and decorative sheens. Trusted and preferred by professionals since 1946 as the “Painter's Paint Store” for its high quality, performance and consistency, Kelly-Moore's paints are safe and easy to use for everyone. Kelly-Moore has three strategically located, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in key markets: San Carlos and Sacramento, Calif., and Hurst, Texas (outside Dallas). Its reputation for quality products is unsurpassed in the industry. The company produces some of the most technologically advanced paint products and sets the industry standard for new product development and quality control. Kelly-Moore has over 150 retail stores in seven states: Arkansas, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington. Kelly Moore has 1,500 employees.

Sustainable Manufacturing: Its main environmentally friendly manufacturing facility in San Carlos is the recipient of five widely recognized green business awards from the State of California and San Mateo County for outstanding efforts to reduce pollution and solid waste and conserve water, energy and other natural resources. California is well-known for having the toughest regulations and inspection processes in the country. Kelly-Moore is proud to have received prestigious awards including the 2009 Large Green Business of the Year award by San Carlos Chamber of Commerce and it is a San Carlos Certified Green Business, California State Assembly.

The Tour:

Keith hosted 5 of us on a full 1.5 hour tour of the Kelly Moore facility. Here's a photographic recap of what we learned!

Air Compressor: Keith pointing out a new air compressor system that has saved the company a tremendous amount of energy. He said it had a 40% per year return on investment! This proved to be a common theme  in our tour - Kelly Moore has recently invested a lot in new manufacturing technologies to reduce energy consumption and save money! 

BBQ Pit: We loved this, as we love our Fireclay Tile BBQs!

Raw Material Storage: We were so impressed by how clean and well organized everything at Kelly Moore is. Their raw materials are extremely well kept, seperated by material, all clearly labeled on pallets. It gave all of us a good idea of how a larger company manages raw materials.

More raw material storage. Not a speck of dust on the floor...literally!

Paint Mixers: Keith next showed us mixing vats. These each hold something like 55,000 gallons of paint. Many of these vats are new and recent purchases, and Keith credits this investment in better vats as allowing them to keep up with the development pace in the paint industry for more eco-oriented paints.

Paint being mixed live!

Super Sacks Recycled: We learned that Kelly Moore recycled everything, or everything that they can. An example are super sacks, which they keep well stacked and organized to be used later. Ramiro, our Factory Manager, was taking a lot of notes at this point!

Signage and Quality: We saw many examples of signs like this throughout the factory, speaking to Kelly Moore's values and history.

Quality Control: The QC department at Kelly Moore checks each and every paint made across a huge number of variables. This ensures that every batch made meets their very strict quality standards, and there is a team that is solely responsible for this. 

Stocking Colors: Something interesting about Kelly Moore is they are one of the only paint companies to make stocking colors, whereas most other paint companies use pigments you mix in the paint store. By making stock colors like this, Kelly Moore ensures any paint you buy from them today they will make exactly the same way in 5, 10 or 20 years. Their paint never goes out of style!

Technology: This is another example of technology at work - each valve directs what paint ingredient goes where 

Waste Watre: Kelly Moore reclaims all water it uses to clean its paint mixers. This is a huge initiative for them, and one they have received tremendous recognition for. These vats of waste water then get used when making the next batch of that same paint color, also saving them money. Each waste water vat is labeled by paint color, and organized perfectly just like everything else at the factory. 

Waste Reduction: Keith told us that in the past 6 years they have reduced their garbage by 85%! That is incredible. They actually were smart enough to go find other local companies to retool their machinery to reprocess and recycle some of Kelly Moore's waste. Unbelieveable smart!

Inventory Management: Kelly Moore recently went through a large Oracle implementation and they can now track each and every paint can throughout its entire operation. It is truly impressive.

This was a picture of the damage from the Loma Prieta earthquake at the Kelly Moore paint factory. Literally paint everywhere!

Dust Collector: Kelly Moore replaced a HUGE dust collector with one much smaller shown here. This had huge economical advantages, as well as environmental for its staff.

Robotics: Keith pointed out certain robotics that Kelly Moore had spent about $1.5M on. He said in its first year the new "toys" saved them $1.3M, not even counting the safer work environment for their staff.

Robotic arm at work lifting paint cans and pallets.

Paint fill line.

The Kelly Moore facility is carbon neutral. Very impressive!

That concluded our tour, and as you can see it left us with a really tremendous impression of Kelly Moore, their paint, and their commitment to a better environment. As a small manufacturer, Fireclay Tile has a lot of work to do to keep up wtih larger companies, but seeing Kelly Moore thriving while doing the right thing gives us even more motivation to keep making improvements.

Next time you are looking for paint, we highly recommend Kelly Moore Paint!

Fireclay Tile has been fortunate over the years to be specified in over 100 high traffic grocery stores and many restaurants and food prep areas. In 2010, we have produced tile for already two grocery stores with several more being worked on, as well as numerous restaurants. Grocery stores include Whole Foods Markets (San Jose, Fairview, Huntington Beach), Metropolitan Market (Seattle), New Frontiers (San Luis Obispo), and New Leaf Market (Capitola).

Debris Series Recycled Tile in the seafood section of United Supermarkets, Texas.

Designers and architects on these projects specifiedFireclay Tile for many reasons including:
 

Color: At Fireclay we offer over 230 standard colors available on a variety of clay bodies. Our Debris Series Recycled Tile is by far the most preferred, not just due to the high recycled content, but also because of price and size availability (as small as 1x1 and up to 12x12 with everything in between). This range of colors, as well as the ability to specify a custom color or tweak and existing shade, allows grocery stores to truly showcase their brand and create an eye-catching environment worthy of their beautiful meats and seafood.
 

Durability and Longevity: Simply, our tile is the highest quality, most durable ceramic tile on the market.
 

Price: Our tile is handmade to reflect “Old World” styles, yet our ceramics technology is advanced and scalable, allowing us to provide pricing that fits company budgets. We will never be as cheap as Dal Tile, but because of the flexibility, customer service, customization, and responsiveness the price quickly becomes affordable, and in the long run due to our high quality and durability, the investment produces far more positive return due to increased customer purchasing. Without naming customers, we have had stores leave us to specify a less highly regarded product in a store, only to come back and admit their mistake and tell us how the lower quality tile actually produced a drop in sales.

Debris Series Recycled Tile featured in Whole Foods - Custom Pizza Oven -Portland, OR

Ease of Maintenance: Tile is a preferred wall and surface covering because it lasts forever (just ask the Romans) and it is so easy to maintain. It cleans well, allows for no bacterial growth, and will stay beautiful for years.
 

Enhanced Product Presentation: The beauty and flexibility of Fireclay Tile enhances the look of grocery stores and restaurants. Ceramic tile is very familiar to customers, and that comfort and ease translates into more sales for stores. With the ability to diversify color selection to really make a statement, different sections of stores can be further enhanced and the customer can better associate surroundings with taste palletes.
 

Code: Universal building code requires certain materials for food prep areas. Ceramic tile is an easy fit and satisfies food code in any of these environments. Furthermore, with reduced regulation around color index requirements, grocery stores can do so much more with tile to enhance their surroundings. When compared other materials that meet code, the design flexibility weighs heavily in favor of tile.

Debris Series Recycled Tile featured in Whole Foods - seafood section with custom mural. -Portland, OR

As you can see, we think highly of our product, and if you don’t believe us just check out our notable installations. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us and ask for more information.

Yesterday we were honored to welcome the owners of Heath Ceramics, Robin and Cathy, as well as their head of Sales, Christina. Heath and Fireclay Tile enjoy a very similar history. Edith Heath founded Heath in 1948, mostly focused on pottery and then started later to make tile. Paul Burns, our Founder and Chief Ceramicist, learned the art of tile from his Uncle Chester, who owned Stonelight Tile, another legendary California tile manufacturer. Fireclay and Heath actually go quite a ways back, in fact, one of our kilns is a kiln from an old Heath Factory in the mid-west (no longer in operation). We had the chance to visit Heath earlier in the year, and it was great to be able to show off the great work that our team does.

Robin, Cathy, Christina (Heath) and Paul

The tour consisted of some time at our ceramics factory in Aromas, CA, where we showed the Heath team everything that one would find in our Manufacturing Video where we highlight how we make each and every unique order. Much more fun than any part of the tour, though, was when we challenged the three to a Cuerda Seca "paint-off"!

Robin, Cathy and Christina paint Cuerda Seca decorative tiles

We then headed up to San Jose to check out our Factory Showroom as well as our Crush 100% Recycled Glass Tile manufacturing operation. 

All in all it was a great day full of many stories of tile manufacturing and some fun new ideas. If you haven't had a chance to check out the Heath website, visit http://www.heathceramics.com

Fireclay Tile's Toilet Recycling Inspires Other Manufacturers

Last October we announced a new post-consumer porcelain recycling effort in collaboration with the Zanker Road Landfill and Recology of San Francisco. It was covered by NPR's Morning Edition, and for awhile it was the talk of the town.

Earlier this month as we were scanning through the latest edition of Architectural Products and caught a glimpse of our new Crush Recycled Glass Tile, we were thrilled to see a blurb about Crossville and a new effort they have with Toto to recycle pre-consumer toilet manufacturing defects. Check it out here:

We love this about our industry and about the role that Fireclay Tile plays. Though we are a midget next to Crossville and probably the size of an ant next to Toto, here we are, a small tile manufacturer, inspiring the largest companies to think differently about their waste stream.

We might add that a big difference is that Fireclay is using post-consumer waste vs the pre-consumer waste that Crossville is obtaining from Toto, but regardless it is a step in the right direction.

Here is a look at the toilets direct from the landfill we are using.

Recently Fireclay has started recycling other scrap materials that we were previously unable to, such as bisque fired seconds from all our ceramic lines, allowing us to replace a grog ingredient that we now never have to again purchase or ship. Another great example of how environmental initiatives not only help the planet, but also help the bottom line!

Fireclay Tile was honored to be highlighted in the July 27, 2011 "Workplace of the Day" section of the Wall Street Journal. Basically, the WSJ looks for different types of businesses with the goal of featuring the interior spaces so folks can see what it's like to be in the workplace for a day. Check out what it's like at Fireclay each and every day!

Many of you already know that Fireclay TIle has recently been trolling the Bay Area for recycled porcelain to add to our Debris Series Recycled Tile. Sunset Magazine learned of this initiative and decided to highlgiht us in the backpage of the March issue. Beyond being an absolutely beautiful magazine, we were thrilled they wanted to feature us and the Zanker Road Landfill, pictured above where we get most of our recycled porcelain.

To read more about our porceliain recycling effort click here.

Full Circle

Recycled tile gives old materials new purpose and offers exciting looks for new and remodeled homes

A granite quarry in San Jose, Calif., struck an unusual business agreement with the Fireclay Tile factory next door. The quarry gives its rock dust to the tile company, which uses it to create its Debris series—a name that unabashedly markets the product’s 60% recycled content.

Small and large manufacturers all over the country have caught on to the trend of re-using discarded window glass, porcelain toilets, and leather seat scraps from nearby manufacturers, turning factory trash into high-end tile treasure. 

“They didn’t know what to do with all the dust they were making,” says Fireclay spokesperson Teresa Cooney, “so the owner of Fireclay, Paul Burns, who is also a scientist, figured out how to incorporate this into a tile for a sustainable cause.”

Recycled bottles go into the glass mosaic tiles made by Hakatai, scraps from leather belts turn into EcoDomo leather tiles, and old soda cans make Alumillenium’s decorative metal tile backsplashes a novelty. These are just a few of the tile companies striking deals with local landfills and industrial plants to re-use and reduce waste.   

“I can’t tell you how many e-mails I get a day where people want to unload their recycled bottles,” says Megan Coleman of Stardust Glass, which receives enough refuse from window and door factories near Portland, Ore., to manufacture glass tiles with recycled content as high as 97%.

IN DEMAND  
Demand for recycled-content tile is on the rise because pros and homeowners who want sustainable interior tile find it looks the same (or even better) and behaves the same as traditional ceramic products.

“The level of recycled content is pretty important in terms of how we determine what materials we pick for our projects,” says San Francisco architect William Duff Jr. “[Recycled tile] has a much better story and everyone will feel better about it. In some instances, a recycled tile may be the right tile just from its look and feel.”

The recycled content ranges anywhere from 10% to 100%, and manufacturers offer a variety of materials, including glass, ceramic, aluminum, brass, wood, bamboo, porcelain, cork, and terrazzo. Some companies produce hundreds of color choices and glaze options. 

“Any time you have an attractive product, it sells itself,” says Minneapolis architect Greg Kraus, “but then you can add in that component of saying, ‘This is a product that has a significant amount of recycled content in it.’” Kraus uses recycled products from Crossville, which recently carved out a place in its expansive line for the recycled-ceramic EcoCycle series.

“The product itself is at a good price point, but I think it helps to save cost in terms of manufacturing,” says Kraus.

But free dust, door glass, and debris do not necessarily lead to a lower-priced product. Says Duff, “some recycled tiles are going to be less expensive than a conventional tile and some are going to be more.”

Tucson, Ariz., interior designer Lori Carroll tells her clients the cost can range from 20% to 25% higher than its un-recycled counterpart.

The price is the same for traditional high-end porcelain tile as it is for Mosaic Tile’s Italy-imported recycled porcelain tile, says that company, and cost is comparable as long as you evaluate the recycled tile within its sphere of quality, material, and function.  
   
FINDING A HOME  
Thanks to the growing popularity of the green movement, recycled tile is on the rise from obscurity, finding a home on bathroom walls, kitchen countertops, and interior floors. 

“It used to be the universe of green materials was fairly small,” says Duff, “but that’s growing larger and larger. Where we are today is a very different place than where we were five years ago; there are enough options available that you can pretty much achieve anything that you want.”

But like with all new products, questions linger. While Kraus says the recycled tile he uses has no maintenance, durability, or installation issues that are different than standard tile, Carroll raises the question of how long the sustainable product will last because its presence is fresh to the market.

Still, the future for recycled tile looks bright, according to pros and manufacturers, who predict a wider variety of styles to hit the market as more recycled-tile companies set up shop in the U.S.

This article originally appeared in Building Products magazine

Fireclay Tile has been making handpainted decorative Cuerda Seca tiles for over 15 years. Beyond our natural, lead-free glazes, we paint our cuerda secas onto our recycled Debris Series clay body, creating what we believe is the highest quality, most sustainable decorative tile available anywhere in the world. Cuerda Seca tiles compliment installations and projects of almost all sizes, whether it is a poolside fountain in a luxury hotel or stair risers on your condos front steps, cuerda seca bring elegance and sophistication to your designs. And with over 60% locally sourced recycled materials, it not only looks beautiful but is crafted with our natural environment in mind.

Cuerda Seca is a Spanish term for wax resist handpainted tiles. The technique came from Persia to Spain, and the intent is to ensure the glaze paint does not run from one part of the design to another during kiln firing. Today we use a proprietary formula for the wax resist to ensure both efficiency as well as high quality. Historically, a combination of animal fat, grease and mineral pigments such as iron or manganese were used as the medium for controlling the glaze pooling. Glazes are then inlaid with bulb syringes into areas between the lines, and for our Cuerda Secas we use all of our own glazes creaed for our Debris Series tiles. Thus, there are over 112 glaze colors to choose from!

In this blog post we take you through a brief glimpse into what Cuerda Seca designs we offer and how to choose the design right for you, how we make our Cuerda Secas, and we conclude with installation pictures that highlight the beauty and diversity one may find by incorporating Cuerda Secas.

Choosing the Right Design

Design Colorways

We have created 3 Design Colorways - Mediterranean, Tuscan, and Peacock - on our most popular designs to make the ordering process easier for many. These colorways are based on colors we feel go great together, and the designs create gorgeous patterns and are appropriate for numerous settings. These colorways are not stocked, but they can potentially be created in less time than our standard 4 week lead time.

The square tiles shown above are available in 4x4 ($24) or 6x6 ($28) and the rectangular tiles are available in 3x3 ($20).

Customize Your Own

We offer over 150 cuerda seca designs which are available to view in our online cuerda seca catalog. We maintain them all as graphic line drawings to allow you the ability to pick and choose colors as you want them. For example, here are 8 popular designs seen in line drawing format:

Each segment within the line drawing can be handpicked by the color of your choice from our 112 Debris Series Glaze Colors. Here is an example of our beautiful San Sebastian design in our standard Mediterranean colorway overlaid on the original graphic with the color key below it. Notice the letters in the graphic on right, which correspond to the colors in the color key below and in the picture on the left side:

When ordering your cuerda seca design, having a color key like the above ensures your unique design will come out exactly like you want it. And if you think designing your own colorway might be too much, perhaps make some tweaks to our Design Colorways to create something unique but guided.

Also, one key thing to note is 32 out of 112 of the Debris Series Glaze Colors have a white engobe base. These "engobed" glaze colors can not be incorporated onto the same Cuerda Seca as non-engobe because of this engobe base layer. Thus, when designing, pay attention to whether the glaze color is engobed or not. We generally recommend sticking to the non-engobed colors to keep it simple.

Floreza Series

Our Floreza series was designed with ultimate beauty and flexibility in mind - paying homage to gorgeous flowers, stems, and flower pots. Like our "Design Colorway", we have developed 3 standard colorways, with 18 beautiful pieces to each colorway. The design combinations are truly nearly limitless!

One aspect of the Floreza series that makes it unique is it’s ability to create vertical accents from horizontal boarders.The 6x6 “Pot” tiles allow the floral design to litterally grow to heights of 6”, 12”, 18”, 24” and beyond. Making this tile perfect for unique back splashes, fireplace surrounds, wall and floor designs. Our "Infinity Piece" allows you to take the pattern and continue it literally as high or as long as you can imagine!

Cuerda Seca Murals

We have some stunning murals handpainted and available for order, as well. Murals are based on either a Peacock or Floral setting, and colorways can be customized or based on some existing sets which we have.

How we make our handmade Cuerda Seca decorative tiles

We make each and every individual handpainted Cuerda Seca tile in our Aromas, CA factory. Our highly trained and experienced painters make each unique tile using either our Debris or Vitrail Series clay bodies as the base, and then apply the appropriate glazes.

As an order comes to our factory, bisqued tile (i.e. pieces of clay that have been fired once to create a hard, durable body) is screen-pressed with the chosen Cuerda Seca patterns. If the patterns are existing Fireclay Tile cuerda seca patterns we have screens ready to go, and if a custom design is chosen a new screen template is made.

After screen pressing the pattern to the clay body, the appropriate glaze colors are selected and then applied to the clay body. We use the exact same in-house Fieclay designed glaze colors on our Cuerda Seca tiles, ensuring we stay true to our commitment to using all natural, lead free glazes. This also ensures that our Cuerda Seca tiles will perfectly match any accompanying field tile you might order.

Upon completing painting, the tiles are kiln fired overnight. They are then packed, and ready for shipment.

Applications for Cuerda Seca decorative tiles

We look forward to working with you to help transform your project into something unique and stunning using Fireclay handmade Cuerda Seca designs. If you want samples or a quote, please let us by emailing us!