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A ceramic work waits to be shipped at Motawi Tileworks in Ann Arbor on Thursday.
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ANDRE J. JACKSON/Detroit Free Press)Nawal Motawi, 43, and her brother Karim, 38, create decorative tiles for homes and art pieces at Motawi Tileworks. |
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Focus on unique items keeps siblings' business fired up
BY JUSTIN HYDE • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • April 27, 2008
Clay, paint, fire -- the basic ingredients for a pottery business aren't hard to come by. But an Ann Arbor family has used their singular aesthetic to turn their decorative tile business into a thriving company.
Motawi Tileworks has grown in 16 years to a 30-employee art tile producer with revenues of more than $2 million annually. This week, the company plans to unveil additions to its Frank Lloyd Wright collection -- a series of art tiles based on drawings, windows and other pieces by the architect that the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation chose Motawi to produce.
Started by siblings Karim and Nawal Motawi in an Ann Arbor garage, the business has thrived by focusing on unique tiles -- pieces that other tile companies might find too challenging to make or too quirky to sell.
"Because we're not a mass producer, we do not have to make to the common denominator," said Karim Motawi. "We don't need to sell 100,000 copies of something. If we find something a couple hundred people like, that's enough."
Both Michigan natives, Nawal Motawi launched the business with her brother in 1992 after working as a tilemaker at Detroit's Pewabic Pottery. In 2001, after several years of steady growth, the duo moved Motawi into its current 12,000-square-foot facility.
Motawi tiles are typically fashioned in an Art Deco or arts and crafts period design. In addition to the Frank Lloyd Wright series, the company sells a set drawn from the stonework flourishes used by Louis Sullivan in his Chicago buildings. Other designs feature nature scenes or unique glazes, and even larger mosaics.
Karim Motawi said about half of their output is sold as art tiles -- single pieces meant to be framed or displayed on their own, which the company sells through about 380 stores across the country. The other half goes to decorative tiles used in kitchens, fireplaces and other mounted surfaces.
Most of their tiles run between $35 and $100 apiece, with a limited edition topping $500 and a full fireplace that can run $4,000.
For now, Karim Motawi said he and his sister are managing the company for "containable growth" -- adding work every year, but not so much that its philosophy changes.
"We just don't want to go too fast," he said.
Contact JUSTIN HYDE at 202-906-8204 or jhyde@freepress.com
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