A Commitment to a Sustained Planet

As an artist Jennifer felt close to the planet as a potter, working with clay. As a tile artist and a student of Design she has learned there is more to it all than a feeling or shades of “green”. She and her team of artisans are committed to a better work environment, producing a better product that a consumer understands is making real efforts to the idea of sustainability, not taking anything from the planet that is not readily replaceable, not consuming in abundance our resources, and taking it the next level and giving back to the community that supports us.

Basing the idea on the Deming Cycle of Plan, Do, Check, Act we have evaluated every step of the process and have made more changes that hopefully will make less of an impact on our environment. We are following several models that already exist in our field.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle:

Part of being a potter means these things are inherent. None of us like to recycle clay, but we hate throwing away money even more. We have refined the process of making pieces so there is little to no waste. What is left we recycle with the pug mill.

We have always glazed over the glaze containers so there is reclamation there.

We do not dump any of our water. It follows the clay through the process, rinse bucket to recycle bucket. Once the kilns fire, it gets harder. If there are any sad pots or tiles that don’t quite make it, we have created a new product with the shards so nothing goes to the landfill. We break all clay up and bag it for resale as drainage for planters. We sell it locally through nurseries and give the profits to local organizations such as the Atlantic Center for the Arts Children’s Summer Arts Program and the Marine Discover Center.

As well we have implemented a recycling program for the office for all paper, magazine, print cartridges, etc. Anything our county and city will recycle, we have a bin. A majority of our shipping materials comes from local retail shops. We try to include a bag for our customers to fill with received peanuts and find another manufacturer local to them to donate. Just say no to Landfills!

The future…

Our goal is to get as close to the Cradle to Cradle model as possible and be closed loop with nothing going to the landfill. Granted clay is abundant, but non-renewable and we do in the long run burn energy creating the product. We will continue to evaluate our process to make it better.

We are on the hunt for a grant for photovoltaic panels to lessen our consumption of energy as well as buying energy offsets to lessen our carbon footprint. We work hard to create a quality product that the home owner and their successors will appreciate enough to keep in the home for its lifetime.

Green side of Tile

Life Cycle: Ceramic tile is some of the longest lasting products of the market. It can last more than 50 years; history has shown it can last much longer

Indoor Air Quality: VOC” (volatile organic compounds) contribute to a wide variety of health problems and are significant cause of sick building syndrome. Tile is fired in extremely high temperatures, there are no VOC’s in the finished product that can be released into the air we breathe. The adhesives and grouts are available with no or little voc’s. That’s right… ZERO!

Recycling: Tile manufacturers are closed loop, reusing water and materials with only negligible amounts of scrap going to landfills.

Regional Availability: There are tile manufacturers located all over the country, with most supplies not much further away. This reduces the amount of energy consumption and emissions from shipping process.

Hypoallergenic: Tile is inhospitable to dust mites, mold, germs, and bacteria and often used to replace carpet for people with allergies or asthma.

Low Maintenance: Ceramic is easily cleaned, often with only warm water, so no to little chemicals are needed for maintenance.

LEED contribution for points: Tile can contribute to LEED points in the following ways:

Elegance, Economical, Environmentally-Friendly

Why Select tile:

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