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Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

See Featured Blog →
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  • Kitchen + Backsplash
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2023 img hi res full usage design Atypical design Studio photo jordan Layton wainscott offset cardamom 3x9 floor tile iron ore 2 hexagon FC596427 1

Original Ceramic tiles showcase handmade qualities with unique variations in color, crazing, and finish.

  • All Original Ceramic Colors
  • Studio Glazes New
  • Ceramic Stains New
  • Shop Shapes
  • Shop Patterns
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Your first 5 color samples are FREE through a rep

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2024 residential full usage 4x4 terre verte satin red jasper satin indigo satin 2x2 red jasper satin bathroom checkerboard straight set 6x12 cove base indigo satin Pluck Architecture Leonid Furmansky FC796720 2

Our budget-friendly ceramics line, Natural Press is made with your largest indoor and outdoor projects in mind.

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Your first 5 color samples are FREE through a rep

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Modern blue subway wall glass tile 2

Our radiant Glass Tile provides a freshness that pairs perfectly with today’s modern designs indoors or out.

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Your first 5 color samples are FREE through a rep

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Glazed Thin Brick Destination Eichler Blue Brick Fireplace

Brick’s hand-mixed glazes enrich its surface, delicately exposing its unique textures and variations with the colors of the environment around us.

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2022 img hi res full rights residential photo design plural design studio bathroom floor tile mini star and cross antique white grout FC 407104 2

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  • $12 Essentials
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  • Factory Sale
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As a member you’ll receive exclusive access to new products, a professional discount, plus personalized service from our trade team who can help bring your vision to life.

Learn More →
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  • Find Your Rep
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Enscape 2025 04 08 12 57 54

Visualize our tile in your space with our comprehensive design packages.

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  • All Design Packages
  • Bathroom
  • Kitchen
  • Fireplace
  • Pool + Fountain
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Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

See Featured Blog →
New traditional bathroom floor subway green tile 3

Nicholas Potts: Historic Primary Bathroom

See Featured Gallery →
Blog
  • All Blog Posts
  • Design + Inspiration
  • Project Spotlight
  • Tile School
Gallery
  • All Gallery Entries
  • Bathroom
  • Kitchen
  • Commercial
Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

See Featured Blog →
New traditional bathroom floor subway green tile 3

Nicholas Potts: Historic Primary Bathroom

See Featured Gallery →
Blog
  • All Blog Posts
  • Design + Inspiration
  • Project Spotlight
  • Tile School
Gallery
  • All Gallery Entries
  • Bathroom
  • Kitchen
  • Commercial
Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

See Featured Blog →
New traditional bathroom floor subway green tile 3

Nicholas Potts: Historic Primary Bathroom

See Featured Gallery →
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  3. Our Definitive Guide to Tile Terminology: S-Z

Know Before You Buy

Our Definitive Guide to Tile Terminology: S-Z

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Subway Tile shown in Kiwi; image: Malcom Fearon, Bliss Images

It's Friday again, and it is the last week of our Definitive Guide to Tile Terminology! This week we are covering the final section of the alphabet, S through Z. We have had some great feedback from our readers and staff this past month, and have added many of their suggestions to our list! In the future, we hope to add our guide to tile terminology to our website to serve as a helpful resource while tackling your tile installations.

S

Sawed Edge – A clean-cut edge generally achieved by cutting with a diamond blade, gang saw, or wire saw.

Sealer – A penetrate applied to prevent the absorption of liquids or other debris. Used with porous materials including: quarry tile, grout, and natural stone. Sealer is not necessary for glazed ceramic tile.

Semi-Vitreous Tile – Tiles that absorb from 3% to 7% moisture. They are applicable for indoor use only.

Skid Resistance – A measure of the frictional characteristics of a surface.

Spacers – Plastic pieces that are used in installation to evenly separate tile. Manufactured in various thicknesses and shapes.

Substrate – The underlayment for the ceramic tile installation.

Subway Tile – The shape of a subway tile is rectangular and very flat, set with a tight grout joint, and often comes in sizes such as 3"x6", 4"x8", etc. Modern subway tiles tend to be beveled on the edge, allowing for a deeper grout joint. Subway tiles can be set in a brick pattern or stacked verticially or horizontally.

Stacked Set – Setting a tile in a stacked set just means to center adjacent tiles next to each other without any stagger. Any shape tile that is square or rectangular may be set with a stacked pattern.

Straight Set – Tile set square to the wall.

Trim Options

T

Tile – A ceramic unit, usually thin in relation to facial area. Made from clay or a mixture of clay and other ceramic material. Has a glazed or an unglazed face.

Tile Cutter – The tile cutter is one of the most efficient and economic tools in the tile setting trade. A popular model is the hand-drawn tile cutting board that is adjustable.

Tile Nipper – Special pliers that nibble away little bites of ceramic tile to create small, irregular or curved cuts.

Thin–Set – A term used to describe the bond coat in a thin bed installation. It is made of sand, cement and usually a latex additive.

Trim Pieces – Various shaped of bases, caps, corners, moldings, angles, etc.

Tumbled – A finish achieved by placing stone tiles in a tumbling machine, sometimes with the addition of acids, to soften the edges and give the surface a worn look.

U

Unfilled – An expression used to indicate that there has been no filling of natural voids in stone units with cements or synthetic resins and similar materials.

Unglazed Tile – A hard, dense tile of uniform composition. No glaze.

Our Tile in Cerulean, which has a V3 color variation

V

Vitreous Tile – Has water absorption of more than 0.5%, but not more than 3%.

V1 Color Variation – Uniform Appearance: Differences among pieces from the same production run are minimal.

V2 Color Variation – Slight Variation: Clear differences may exist in texture and/or shade within the same colors of any given batch run.

V3 Color Variation – Slight Variation: Clear differences may exist in texture and/or shade within the same colors of any given batch run.

V4 Color Variation – Moderate Variation: Greater color and shade differences from tile to tile, so that one tile may have noticeably different shade from that on other tiles. This ensures that the final installation will be unique.

W

Wainscote – The area of a tiled wall that is installed from the floor to the chair rail height, or slightly higher, with a border or cap finishing the installation.

Wall Tile – Glazed tile with a body suitable for interior use. Not expected to withstand excessive impact or be subject to freezing/thawing conditions. It is not appropriate for use on a floor.

White Body – The color of the body is determined by the color of the clay used by the manufacturer. The body of a white body tile will be white in color. The quality of the tile is more related to the quality of the manufacturer rather than the color of the body.

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