While it is not the core of what Fireclay does, throughout the years Fireclay’s Boneyard has become quite the “secret” for those in the know who are either looking for a phenomenal deal on beautiful overstock tile or for those who are mosaic fanatics. Many of these individuals are exceptional artists and create exquisite designs. To foster this creativity, we even started a series of Mosaic Tiling Classes this Spring run by Mosaic Expert Delaine Hackney which have been very successful.
Here are some great examples of two Boneyard fanatics and some of their latest creations!
Mary Ann Carmack
Mary Ann is a boneyard fan who has been shopping at Fireclay for many years. When she isn’t creating benches, Mary Ann enjoys being a pediatrician. Here are two examples of her latest work which are comprised mostly of Boneyard materials.
Michael Price
Another great example of these mosaic artists who cherish our Boneyard is Michael Price. Michael is a retired kindergarten teacher who first took a mosaic class down at Grove Beach, Calif. and really enjoyed the class. His first project was his own house number, and soon he was off and running and making some outdoor tables. Shown here is Michael’s latest creation using material from our Bonyard: a half pear
Michael is currently designing a mural of an aquarium.
Got a mosaic creation from our Boneyard? (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and we’ll include it on our site!
San Jose Factory Showroom Sale - 20% Off New In-Store Orders (2/20-2/28)
Please note this sale ended on February 28, 2010. So you don’t miss our next Factory Showroom Sale make sure to sign up for the Fireclay Tile email alerts
We are excited to announce a End of Winter San Jose Factory Showroom Sale. We are offering 20% off all NEW orders of Fireclay Tile-made products.
When: February 20 through the end of the month What: 20% Off All New Fireclay Tile Orders Where: Fireclay Tile Factory Showroom
Note: This does not apply to any of our other vendor materials that we carry, including Saltillos. It does apply to our discounted Boneyard where we sell our seconds and overstock products.
We are thrilled to announce the launch of our first series of mosaic classes in our Factory Showroom starting late February 2010.
Delaine Hackney (http://www.delainemosaic.com) an accomplished mosaic artist and teacher, will be leading these sessions, the first of which will focus on Pet Portraiture. Delaine is a highly accomplished mosaic teacher, with experience from Oakland’s Mosaic Art Institute as well as numerous national workshops.
These sessions will take place using materials from the Fireclay Boneyard and will truly help you take your mosaic tiling to a new level.
Sessions are 3 consecutive Saturdays lasting from 10AM - 2PM. Registration is $130, which includes everything.
Session 1 is 2/27, 3/6, and 3/13
Session 2 is 4/3, 4/10, and 4/17
For more information, please contact Delaine at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or see the flyer below.
Last week we were fortunate to have Daniel Cronin visit our Factory Showroom and Offices and take some incredible still photography of our products. You can view the entire set of product shots on our Flickr site
We loved all of his shots, and some of our favorites were as follows:
Basic 4x4 Field Tile (Debris Series)
Relief Debris Series Decorative (12x12)
Raised Vitrail Series Decorative (2 4x4s)
Cuerda Seca Tile (6x6)
About Daniel Cronin: Daniel lives in Portland, OR, but does work throughout the West Coast. His website has great representations of his work, and we think very highly of him.
We are thrilled to move forward with a small renovation to our Factory Showroom. On December 30, 2009, we removed a significant part of one of our showroom walls, opening up a formerly inaccessible spot. We look forward to adding a beauitful bathroom installation to this spot and bringing forward a HUGE collection of range and field boards to showcase our 224 standard glaze colors for our Debris Series Recycled Ceramic Tile and Vitrail Series of Handmade Ceramic Tile.
We thought we’d share a video that highlights how cool the demolition was! Huge thanks for Martin, Carlos, and Ramiro Jr. for their help!
Another great Fireclay Holiday party! Please check out the slideshow below for pictures from the event. As always, a special thanks to Martin for making his delicious BBQ and for everyone else bringing sides and dessert. We can’t wait for next year!
In an effort to better communicate our history, product offering, and product details, we have launched a new video series that we will be adding to constantly. We are really excited for this next step fo rour company, and hope it allows you to learn a bit more about us in your quest for beautiful ceramic products!
On September 9, 2009, the Mexican Heritage Plaza founders were honored with a plaque that we were honored to help make. The San Jose Mercury News did a great article, which we have included part of below.
More than 100 people - including Mayor Chuck Reed and City Council members Nora Campos and Sam Liccardo - attended. The big highlight was the unveiling of a3-foot mosaic plaque that recognizes Blanca Alvarado as the plaza’s founder, as well as honoring first executive director Pete Carrillo, inaugural board Chairman Fernando Zazueta and the rest of the founding board.
The plaque, placed on the pavilion in the plaza’s courtyard, was designed by artist Carlos Perez to reflect the history of the organization and the East San Jose neighborhood where the plaza stands. Fireclay Tile was able to take Carlos’ design and bring it to life using our Debris clay body and custom decorative tile making.
The 42 2-inch square tiles surrounding the plaque depict, among other things, the United Farm Workers logo, the official seals of San Jose and Santa Clara County, a Del Monte logo and a California mission.
As a gift, Perez presented Alvarado with one of two tiles he made featuring Cesar Chavez. These Chavez tiles were also made by Fireclay Tile.
Paul Burns, our founder and Chief Ceramicist, was able to get a gret photo with San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed
NEW BUSINESS HOURS + Closed Saturday/Monday of Labor Day
We will be closed the Saturday (September 5) and Monday (September 7) of Labor Day.
Starting September 8 we will have new business hours for our Factor Showroom in San Jose. Based on your customer feedback we will be staying open later during the week.
Our new hours are:
Tuesday - Friday: 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Saturday: 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
As always we are closed Monday and Sunday.
We look forward to seeing you in our Factory Showroom in San Jose! In case you can’t get through, we are always available via email.
At Fireclay we love food, and we love making our beautiful, recycled Debris Series tile for great food establishments.
Just this month, a wonderful new restaurant - Bocanova - has opened in the heart of Oakland’s Jack London Square. “Pan-American cuisine is the blending of culinary currents from Europe and the Americas while using the best and freshest local ingredients,” comments Bocanova-Executive Chef, Rick Hackett. Beyond the exquisite cuisine, the owners of Bocanova were committed to using sustainable materials and asked their architect, Michael Guthrie Architecture, to specify our Debris Series in the kitchen area. The tile’s 52% recycled material and local sourcing and sustainable manufacturing mattered to them, but the high quality and unique style were absolute requirements. We believe the result is great and can’t wait to go taste some of the delicious food!
As a follow-up to our Newsletter we wanted to announce the winners of our First Trivia Contest. We asked the following question:
Trivia Question: Where does the name “fireclay” come from? Best answer as judged by Paul, our founder and chief ceramicist, wins. Submit entries by August 18, 2009 by emailing (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
The winners and the winnings were as follows:
First place - 2 sets of beautiful Cuerda Seca gift tiles: Jeffery Hellmuth
Runners up - 1 set of beautiful gift tiles: Adrian Crawford, Tyra Johnson, Therese Brown, Alex Moskowitz
The most creative answer came from Tyra who said:
“Here’s my guess. Paul’s middle name is Clay. And his last name Burns is a synonym to fire. As opposed to Burns Clay, he selected Fireclay.”
We look forward to our next Trivia Contest! Thanks for playing!
“A Mission Revival Rises Amid the Palms” - San Jose Mercury News August 8, 2009
Fireclay Tile was recently featured in the San Jose Mercury News for our reproduction of 100-year old tile from a Spanish-style Mission-revival house.
“The stark white house at the end of Plaza Drive in San Jose’s historic Palm Haven neighborhood takes you by surprise. It’s a small single story on a corner lot. But its domed tower and decorative parapet across the roofline force you to take a second look.
This is Michael Borbely’s mini-masterpiece — a recently completed Mission Revival house of stucco and tile that took years of research to create with the help of a local tile company to reproduce century-old details.
It’s not a big house, but it’s a flexible house,” he says. “I see this as able to double as a dining space” or a gracious area for wine receptions. A wainscoting of colorful tile, reproduced by Fireclay Tile, came from a 100-year-old photograph Borbely found.”
We were proud to be part of such a wonderful project!
Fireclay Tile hosted its biannual Boneyard Sale in its San Jose Showroom from March 30 - April 22. At our sale our great customers found beautiful, sustainable handmade tile discounted at over 75%. We sold overstock and seconds of most of our field tile as well as a huge selection of decorative tiles and moldings. Our showroom is located at 495 W. Julian Street in San Jose, CA and The Bonyeard is open during our regular hours.
