Who am I?
Long time tile designer inspired by the rich history of tiles and the fashion world.
What do I do?
I've owned and operated my own tile businesses (manufacturer, designer, curator) for a very long time. I started when 4 1/4" white tiles were all the rage. Lots has changed since way back then. My current company, Tilevera, offers all sorts of hand made, and painted tiles - from custom to Moroccan, and modern to our recent creation of Hearst Castle Collection by Tilevera.
Why this blog?
This takes a little longer to explain- maybe because it encompasses a lot of the various facets of my personal history. But at the beginning of this year I realized I was spending a lot of time talking about tile to clients, personnel, friends, myself... Then I thought, if I could tell more than one person at a time- I wouldn't be straining my voice or sounding like a salesperson or even worse- a tile politician. Instead, maybe I could post a daily blog about all my tile "musings". From someone with bunches of years of experience in the tile world to anyone who wants to know about tiles. That sounds vaguely egotistical so I'd like to make an important clarification here. I don't know everything about tiles (just a whole lot!!)- but what I don't know, I do know how to find out from some of the best in our industry.
Ceramic, stone, glass, metal- even wood and bamboo. Hand made, machine made, neutrals or wildly colored. You name it! If it's tile, I can probably find a place in my heart for it.
Now, don't get me wrong - I can also be very outspoken about BAD tile. Yuck- who likes bad tiles. But there is plenty of it out there and plenty of people spending plenty of money on such things. I'm guilty of creating the occasional bad tile myself. That's because I've been designing tiles for my entire career, which has been a very long time. Think way back to shoulder pads, Boy George, teal and mauve- you get the idea. So - do I have an opinion on the matter, and I don't let myself off the hook either.
But this blog is not about BAD tiles (at least not entirely!). It is about my own love and affection for the good stuff. And I want to talk about as much of it as I possibly can. I have a tile company called Tilevera. I used to have a company called Bisq'ettes. Bisq'ettes was around for a really long time, then something really BAD happened (we won't go into that here) and I took a break from the tile world for about 5 minutes. 6 minutes later- I was asked to save a group of the kindest most talented artists ever, in the Philippines. My mother is from the Philippines and I even lived there for a bit- so the idea that I could save 100's of talented artists from the unemployment line was meaningful to me.
So now through all of my tile chapters, one thing still remains- a true love of tiles. So here's to tile and all things meaningful to me about tile.