If you choose handmade tile for a kitchen backsplash or fireplace surround, you’ll get a one-of-a-kind custom art piece that will last for the life of your house. That’s the message of the Handmade Tile Association, a national group of tile artists based in Minneapolis. The nine-year-old group offers a Web site and print directory to help customers find tile artists and installers. It also puts on an annual tile festival that showcases the work of several tile makers.
“Handmade tile is hand carved or hand molded. It has lots of color choices, lots of styles,” says Josh Blanc, association president and owner of Clay Squared to Infinity, a tile studio and gallery in Minneapolis.
“A lot of people don’t know that this kind of work is available and think it’s too far out of their price range. It doesn’t really have to be,” says David Aichinger, owner of David Aichinger Tile Company in St. Paul. Blanc says one of the Handmade Tile Association’s goals is to put the price of handmade tile in perspective for homeowners. For example, a handmade tile backsplash in a kitchen could cost $500 to $3,500 depending on the size of the installation and the artist. When compared to the average price of appliances ($800 to $10,000), cabinets ($10,000 to $60,000), and flooring ($2,000 to $5,000) in high-end homes, custom tile starts to look more accessible.
The Clay Squared gallery is located in the Keg House Arts Building in Minneapolis and showcases handmade tile from 15 to 20 local artists. “We try to get people to see tile as art, not just as function,” Blanc says. His own work is contemporary and organic. He rolls out clay using a rolling pin, cuts it with plastic dies, and uses an extruder—essentially a big Play-Doh machine—to form different shapes. The clay is then dried, glazed, and fired for 12 to 24 hours.
Karin Kraemer, owner of Duluth Pottery, LLC, in Superior, Wisconsin, says one of her favorite parts of a project is talking with her clients and identifying important themes so she can incorporate these ideas into the project’s motif. She also takes pictures, draws possible designs, and then goes back and forth with the client until a final design is agreed upon. Once that’s decided, building the project goes quickly, she says.
“I have a particular glaze technique that a lot of people don’t use called maiolica [also spelled majolica, it’s pronounced “my-o-lika”]. It involves laying down a white glaze and then painting right into it with stains. When you fire it a second time, you get a lot of color,” Kraemer says. She can make tiles any thickness or size. Her variety of clients keep her excited about the possibilities of tile: Recently, she’s completed work for a lawyer’s office, a pool house, and an up-north-inspired kitchen backsplash.
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