May. 31, 2013
Our friends at the Kiwanis Special Games in Cupertino, needed a hand this year trying to solve an age old problem - how to weight down course markers for the events at the XXXV Special Games. We were able to supply 4x4 tile from our Boneyard to help solve the delema. By putting a loose tile in the bottom of each brightly colored bag, Kiwanis was able to map out very clear courses with indistructible course markers.
From Kiwanis -
"Each May about 1,000 severely challenged kids from public and private schools across Santa Clara County are invited to participate in a one day event of physical endeavor and success. This is the one day in the year when these youngsters are special, they are athletes, and at the center of attention through positive achievement. For many of these kids, the Special Games is their favorite day of the year."
The games went off beautifully and we are honored to have been involved. Learn more about the Special Games here.
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. 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.
