THF: Tile of the Month ~ April 2006



Tile Restoration Center
Seattle, Washington

Tile Restoration Center is a small tile company dedicated to producing historically accurate reproductions of American Arts & Crafts tile makers such as Ernest Batchelder and Claycraft. The company has also created dozens of new designs in the Arts & Crafts style to complement those historical images that are faithfully reproduced. All involved pride themselves on the amount of care and hand work that goes into each and every tile made, not just for looks, but in the dignified and creative spirit of the early twentieth century.

Tile Restoration Center was founded in the late 1980s by Marie Glasse Tapp, a potter and ceramic artist familiar with the work of Ernest Batchelder and other Southern California tile makers of the early twentieth century. As she worked to restore historic tile installations in Washington State, she encountered the need to replace a few irreparable Batchelder tiles. In order to do this, Marie needed to deduce and devise a method to create new tiles with the look and feel of those old distressed tiles. The concept of Tile Restoration Center was then set to evolve from a business of strictly restoration to primarily the reproduction of historic tiles.

Today, Tile Restoration Center is owned and operated by Steve Moon, an employee of over ten years and long time studio manager.



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