Recycled Glass Tile With Style
By Rebecca Ragain
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| Stardust Glass production facility located in Southeast Portland, OR. |
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| Jason adjusting a mold in their custom-made kiln. |
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| Each mold is filled by hand with the bottom layer of clear glass measured by weight. |
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| After the first layer is poured, each mold is filled with a color layer also measured by weight. |
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| Inventory of a few Stardust Glass hand-made rubber molds. |
Tile has been around for thousands of years. That’s one reason why the form appeals to Jason Coleman, who owns and operates Stardust Glass with his wife, Megan Coleman.
“I love the fact that people have been making tile for one purpose or another since the dawn of time,” says Jason.
For the last two years, the Portland couple has been lovingly producing hand-made glass tiles in a rainbow of semi-opaque colors, ranging from orchid to tangerine, from blue lagoon to mocha. Shapes run the gamut from diamond to hexagon, and, of course, rectangular and circular.
They craft the tiles from recycled post-industrial scrap glass, in the form of ground-up grains that are fused together in a kiln, along with oxides for color. Most of the colors have 98% recycled content; a few are 87% recycled glass.
Because Stardust Glass tiles are fused, not melted and poured, they have a different shape than you might expect. Instead of a mirror-flat surface with sharp edges, the Colemans’ artisan tiles have a softer, more organic appearance. The edges of the tiles are slightly rounded and gently reflect the light.
Until four months ago, the Colemans worked from a studio in the garage of their Southeast Portland home. But as the size of orders increased, they found that the first half of an order would over-run the space as they were trying to finish the batch.
Now, they lease roughly 1,300 square feet of warehouse space, which they use as both production facility and showroom. There’s space to accommodate big orders, such as a recent job for 350 square feet of tile.
“We have our system down now, we’re sort of in a production flow,” says Megan.
The move to the warehouse was a milestone for the still-young company.
“When you are a small business owner, and you’re overwhelmed by the lack of capital or the production stresses, you have to celebrate small victories as they come,” Megan points out. “For us, one small victory was getting out of the garage and into a place we can call our own, and acclimating to that.”
Across Oregon and beyond, an increasing number of dealers are expressing interest in Stardust Glass tile. At present, Stardust Glass has distributors in Eugene, Salem, Bend, Milwaukie, and Astoria, as well as in Austin, Texas. In Portland, the Colemans’ tiles are distributed through Pratt & Larson Tile & Stone, where Jason has worked for several years.
To further increase sales, Jason and Megan face a challenge: Many people continue to think of tile as a functional product, a necessary wall covering, not as an accent with artistic potential.
But with Stardust Glass tile, Megan says, “You can take your backsplash and shower walls, which are typically a kind of mundane background, and make them focal points.”
Recognizing that budget is often a consideration — Stardust Glass tiles range from $24 to $75 per square foot — Jason suggests adding a simple border of the artisan tiles. It’s a modest investment with eye-catching results.
“Take plain white subway tile: Just by adding a border of our tiles, it can completely change the look of it from somewhat predictable to somewhat arty,” says Jason.
Rebecca Ragain is a Portland-based freelance writer. She can be contacted at www.rebeccaragain.com.
Stardust Glass
503-928-3076
info@stardustglasstile.com
www.stardustglasstile.com
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