Being Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable - 3 Things I Set Out to Change in the Tile Industry

In early 2000, not a lot of diversity was present in tile. I was completely out of place, I had no depth of a ceramic background, no university degree and certainly no marketing chops. I did have passion for color and design, so I showed up from exactly where I was - awkward, uncomfortable, but with a dream & a sparkle in my eye. However, in the beginning of my career it felt agonizing to show up with anything containing bold color or design that didn’t follow a square, rectangle or "deco tile" in 2002. Not a get rich quick model, mmmmmK. As someone with basically zero credentials in 'the industry' I felt like I had no right to be at the table. I ignored all of this and showed up anyway. I mean, at the time there weren't even things like Pinterest or Houzz to fuel inspiration. The 'tile model' was to go to a distributor, select your tile and purchase through someone within the industry, unless you went to the local hardware store (don't get me started on that). There were no platforms which empowered consumers to do their own research and discover things to make their house into a home. Fast forward to 2021 and Mercury Mosaics has become a beacon of the change we set out to create from the beginning - diversity in tile design. We’ve created a platform to stretch the imagination in what is possible in tile.

Disrupt the concept of 'Designing for Resale'

We were warned about people being truly focused on the resale value of their homes and using so much color and pattern in tile was just not a viable path for a company in the tile industry. Staying in the status quo isn’t of interest and playing it safe wasn’t part of the narrative of Mercury Mosaics . We were told, regarding bold color and patterns: this was something you should do with fabric, because you can change out fabrics much more cost-effectively. Add on top of these warnings the fact that we were nestled in the heart of the Midwest, this truly paints a picture of the playing field we stepped out on. It's that first barrier to entry into an industry as a young tile making studio that really helped shape us into who we are today and still challenges us to create the change we wish to see.?

Manufacturing at Scale isn't always Human-friendly, or is it?

As we’ve navigated what it is to design & manufacture tile in a human-friendly setting with female leadership - representation has increased within our company. We’re not interested in stopping with design & female representation, this is a long-range shift and having been at the work we’ve done so far for 19 years, our vision is to build upon the diversity among our team. Diversity in age, gender, backgrounds, race, education & experience. It is with this constant drive to bring more voices to the table that we continue to create the change we wish to impact in our community always beginning within the company.?

Reflecting on having created a manufacturing experience that would embrace and celebrate the artisans that are behind the tile. Making ceramics can be hot, tiring, low-wage and dirty. We weren't interested in creating a business that perpetuated any of this. How could we sell a product in a marketplace filled with a majority of products made overseas in factory settings that aren't transparent with working conditions? How can we pull this off as a company that bootstrapped its way to the table? How do we make an artisan product and offer health care and make it so people can build careers with us? If you're making handmade tile, the most important asset is: people.?We stay committed and although our growth is slower than our goals, we position ourselves in the bespoke tile category to stay centered with these aims to have the workplace culture that reflects our core values. Our next chapter involves becoming a B-Corp to have the accountability that our brand buddies at Fireclay Tile have - fellows in our tile community that we respect highly.

Make it so people could shop for tile from their couch with a glass of wine

The mainstream tile industry at the time when Mercury Mosaics was still a one-woman show was not designed for the consumer. The concept of placing a tile product out on the market, it was really a standard-shape game: subway tiles, architectural trim and lots of shades of grey, beige & white. Glass was the cutting-edge material for tile. If you wanted to be creative, you’d toss in a “deco” here or there and fax an order in (couldn’t help myself). Ceramic was still a pretty tired category most consumers would, you guessed it, yawn about. I'd talk about owning a handmade ceramic tile company and most would assume I was cranking out beige square tiles for bathrooms and white subway tiles for kitchens - not a lot of imagination going on in those early years. It felt most comfortable to just try to do what I saw everyone else doing. That didn't work for this artist. Instead, I decided to imagine what I'd want to see on my walls and treat them like a coloring book. I'd come up with a rainbow of colors and an assortment of highly versatile shapes that were easy to mix. From there it was about reverse-engineering to find the consumers who would dare to take a colorful risk on their walls and floors and market on those channels. Until more-robust e-commerce sites were around, we did this in a very analog way, which worked well (and why this has taken 19 years to build). It allowed us to really dial-into an extremely-workable process. Today, you can shop for tile on our website from the comfort of your couch with that glass of wine or simply your coffee of choice. Rome wasn't created in a day and neither was Mercury Mosaics and I'm glad about that. May you enjoy the fruits of 19 years of building from the ground up and cheers to several decades to come.

Mercedes Austin is a misfit in the tile industry, take everything she says with a grain of grout, she's making it all up as she goes.

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