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 AMERICAN RESTORATION TILE Charles Eastlake, one of the fathers of the Arts and Crafts movement, was enthusiastic about tiles, especially the encaustic tiles by Minton, Hollins, and Co., the English ceramic firm. When Eastlake showed up with his tile exhibit at the American Centennial exhibit in 1876, he set off a huge wave of interest in decorative tile, a wave that didn’t crest until the 1930s. |
Tiles showed up everywhere: on furniture, in woodwork, in parlors, bedrooms, and baths. In America, in the early years of the Twentieth Century, Gustav Stickley recommended the use of decorative art tiles around fireplaces and chimney breasts. The Arts and Crafts revival of recent years has revived the popularity of ceramic art tiles.
One of the leading manufacturers of historically correct encaustic tiles today is American Restoration Tile, based in Little Rock, Arkansas. Ceramic engineer Bryan Byrd started the company in 2000 and now American Restoration Tile and its subsidiary Olde English Tile U.S.A. ship tile all over the country, including several notable installations in Connecticut.
Aside from homes, American Restoration Tile can be found in business buildings, hotels, restaurants and public buildings, including the Harris County Courthouse in Houston, Texas. One of the more interesting uses of American Restoration Tile is the map of the MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The map is made up of 1/2” x 1/2” tiles that were installed by a robot!
We are providing a direct link to American Restoration Tile’s “Unglazed Porcelain Mosaics Installation Guide” for DIYers or contractors unfamiliar with installing encaustic tiles. In an interview, Bryan Byrd told us not to trust the instructions on bags of grout you buy at Home Depot.
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AMERICAN RESTORATION TILE
11416 Otter Creek South Road · Mabelvale, AR 72103
501-455-1000 · restorationtile.com
