May. 24, 2013
We recently expanded our clay tile factory in Aromas, CA. Part of the expansion project allows us to introduce new manufacturing techniques and make room for even more efforts geared at sustainability. This is our new water reclemation system, which will be used at our cutting and polishing station scheduled to be up and running soon. These water tanks and extraction system make sure that we are able to capture every last drop of used water, ensuring that we keep all water waste at an absolute minimum.
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.
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
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
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.
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!
May. 10, 2012
Who would smash Fireclay tile on purpose?! The interns of Watsonville Wetland Stewards would! The high school interns are part of an after-school science program for junior high students in the Watsonville area, which is near the Fireclay Aromas factory. The interns train for five weeks to be a part of this program and also learn how to be mentors. In April, the interns contributed in another way by smashing Fireclay tiles and making mosaics for stepping stones for the garden at the Wetlands Educational Resource Center. Paul Burns, founder of Fireclay, donated the tiles. Stained glass artists Cathy Gamble and Linda Bjornson and mosaic artist Sandee Adams also helped out.
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Interns Xianjia Huang and Pablo Robles with guidance from Sandee Adams of Aromas Hills Artisans.
Per the article, they had fun looking through the "extra" tiles in Aromas at the Fireclay like the ones below.
Fireclay tiles at the Aromas factory.
For the full Watsonville Wetland Stewards article go to:
http://www.watsonvillewetlandswatch.org/education_archive/wetland_stewards_events.htm
Dec. 30, 2011
Today I had the opporutunity to visit with one of our favorite customers. What was different is that this customer serves food - and the food is quite delicious. I'm talking about The Melt, one of the hottest restaurant concepts of 2011. Started by Jonathan Kaplan of FlipCam, The Melt's goal is to be the premier quick served grilled cheese and soup destination. After my experience today, I can say they are well on their way. Plus, we love The Melt because they were our first customers of our new glazed thin brick line (Launching January 2012)
My wife and I visited the The Melt Embarcadero location and were immediatley impressed by 4 key things:
1) FAST SERVICE: For a holiday week in SF, it was super crowded, but the line moved really quickly and very efficiently.
2) COOL ORDER SCREEN: After ordering, we saw our name show up on their "order board" which was super cool and something I'd never seen in a restaurant before. We knew exactly when our food would be ready!
3) SODA FOUNTAIN: I love a good fountain soda, and The Melt's fountain soda machine is totally unique and serves delicious Diet Coke.
4) GLAZED THIN BRICK: We may be biased, but we think the glazed thin brick in The Melt looks spectacular!
[Photo: Facebook, New Montgomery Location]
My wife and I dined on The Mission and The Classic and enjoyed every last bite. We will definitely be back!
- Eric Edelson
Sep. 12, 2011
Last week we had the honor of attending the opening launch party for Ciao Bella Gelato's remodeled Ferry Building location in San Francisco, CA. In the Spring Ciao Bella solicited Fireclay Tile for the backsplash tile, focusing on Fireclay's huge range of bright, vibrant colors. This is what they came up with!
We are so thrilled with how it turned out! Using a combination of 36 colors from our Debris Series Recycled Tile line (and 3 colors from our Vitrail Series), Ciao Bella designed a backsplash that emulated its brand perfectly, highlighting bright, beautiful colors, just likes its delicious gelato.
You can read more about why Ciao Bella chose Fireclay in this great blog post here.
To check out some Fireclay Tile for your own backsplash, consider ordering some samples!
Aug. 9, 2011
Last week Eric Edelson, Fireclay's VP and Co-Owner, was quoted in the small business section of the New York Times. Receivables are a big issue, especially for a small business, as your cash becomes tied up in your customers' hands, and there is a fear that you may never actually see the pay off for all your hard work. At Fireclay, we had an issue of people not paying us on time, and over time those customers' ability to pay wained as their business faced new challenges. By tweaking a few internal processes, we were able to realize substantial improvements in cash flow just by more tightly controlling our customers' terms.
Ultimately, this has allowed Fireclay to be a better partner for our customers, and for our relationships to be stronger with customers than they were before. If you have any questions, please feel free to email Eric @ fireclaytile.com.
