who we are
we wanted to change the world of tile. it worked.
it took 30 years. and a garage...
clé was born from the blog ‘tile envy’, where tile industry authority, artist, and entrepreneur Deborah Osburn shared her reverence for tile, knowledge from over 30 years in the industry, and her singular curation of the new, the obscure, the profound, the profane: the work of artists and artisans who just happened to work in the medium of tile.
‘tile envy’ began as a personal love letter to tile. soon, it became a cult hit, with fans resonating with the combination of art and tile authority. they also began clamoring to buy the tile. pallets came and went from Osburn’s Northern California garage. neighbors complained. eyebrows were raised. and thus clé was born.
there was a light that needed to be lit in the world of tiles.
in the beginning… tile in America was everything artisan tile isn’t: mass-produced, uniform, only for bathrooms and sanitary (!) surfaces. conventional wisdom was that installers would never embrace these “exotic” tiles: they were way too difficult, finicky, ill-natured, badly-behaved.
well, conventional wisdom is conventional. just not necessarily wise. artisan tile is difficult, yes. unruly, yes. and also sublimely beautiful, full of character. artisan, handmade tile like Moroccan zellige, handcrafted cement, and Italian cotto has been used extensively around the world for centuries. just not in America.
so what would happen if American designers and homeowners were introduced to them… but in the right way? and so we set out to find out. fast forward a decade or so. we didn’t just put these tiles on the map: we redrew the map altogether, transforming these rarities into bona fide design standards.
so much for conventional wisdom.
they said it couldn’t be done. so we reinvented the industry.
at the start, selling tile online (let alone artisan tile) was just. not. done. tile — so went the prevailing belief — took showrooms and sales people and middlemen.
well, we disrupted that, democratized the stodgy business. we sold direct to consumers online. we didn’t have a showroom [gasp]. we audaciously shared our hard-earned knowledge with everyone (not just designers and contractors). we demystified artisan tile with detailed guides that no one had shared before (and who the “experts” opined no one would care about if we did).
we didn’t listen. and in so doing, we ended up creating the new normal, the way things are today. since then, we’ve stayed true to the course. except we’re building our next chapter. (here’s a hint.) are you ready?
about us
who we are
we wanted to change the world of tile. it worked.
it took 30 years. and a garage...
clé was born from the blog ‘tile envy’, where tile industry authority, artist, and entrepreneur Deborah Osburn shared her reverence for tile, knowledge from over 30 years in the industry, and her singular curation of the new, the obscure, the profound, the profane: the work of artists and artisans who just happened to work in the medium of tile.
‘tile envy’ began as a personal love letter to tile. soon, it became a cult hit, with fans resonating with the combination of art and tile authority. they also began clamoring to buy the tile. pallets came and went from Osburn’s Northern California garage. neighbors complained. eyebrows were raised. and thus clé was born.
there was a light that needed to be lit in the world of tiles.
in the beginning… tile in America was everything artisan tile isn’t: mass-produced, uniform, only for bathrooms and sanitary (!) surfaces. conventional wisdom was that installers would never embrace these “exotic” tiles: they were way too difficult, finicky, ill-natured, badly-behaved.
well, conventional wisdom is conventional. just not necessarily wise. artisan tile is difficult, yes. unruly, yes. and also sublimely beautiful, full of character. artisan, handmade tile like Moroccan zellige, handcrafted cement, and Italian cotto has been used extensively around the world for centuries. just not in America.
so what would happen if American designers and homeowners were introduced to them… but in the right way? and so we set out to find out. fast forward a decade or so. we didn’t just put these tiles on the map: we redrew the map altogether, transforming these rarities into bona fide design standards.
so much for conventional wisdom.
they said it couldn’t be done. so we reinvented the industry.
at the start, selling tile online (let alone artisan tile) was just. not. done. tile — so went the prevailing belief — took showrooms and sales people and middlemen.
well, we disrupted that, democratized the stodgy business. we sold direct to consumers online. we didn’t have a showroom [gasp]. we audaciously shared our hard-earned knowledge with everyone (not just designers and contractors). we demystified artisan tile with detailed guides that no one had shared before (and who the “experts” opined no one would care about if we did).
we didn’t listen. and in so doing, we ended up creating the new normal, the way things are today. since then, we’ve stayed true to the course. except we’re building our next chapter. (here’s a hint.) are you ready?