New colors for an old design

Our Amaretti Collection is another favorite that we have decided to expand by adding three wonderfully rich, earthy color palettes.  Take a look:

Amaretti Pattern - Amber

Amaretti Pattern - Forest

Amaretti Pattern  - Redwood

The new colors shown above are joining the originals:

Amaretti Pattern - Earth

Amaretti Pattern - Dawn

Go ahead...click on the pictures and immerse yourself in the warm, resonant color tones.  You know you want to.

Bringing back the classics....

These designs have been a part of our collections since the beginning.  You can't go wrong with classic shapes like Fleur d'Lys, and subtle, earthy tones.  Our natural stone tiles are just perfect for looks like this.

The Lucca Collection has been one of our favorites.   In our last catalog, we must have had a collective brain fog and we ended up with only one tiny picture of the Lucca listello on a single page, waaaay in the back of the catalog.  We are not going to make that mistake again.  This time the collection will have its very own page.

Modello is another collection that has remained a popular choice throughout the years.  This traditional pattern has a rustic, aged finish and rich, layered coloring that truly gives it an old world feel.  Modello looks best on our Light Travertine tile.  The edges are tumbled and the surface is full of natural pits and grooves.  The organic characteristics of the travertine tile add to that ancient, timeworn look and feel.

Our soon-to-be-released new Tile Book will show off a number of our classic designs, right alongside the many inspiring, new collections.  Our design team is working away to put the finishing touches on it and we are extremely excited about how it is turning out.  We can't wait to share it with you!    Stay tuned...

More new tile designs

You will see these collections in our upcoming new tile book.  Coming soon...

Minore Collection

Altalena Collection

An end to boring stone tile

New tile book coming soon.  Really!

Kicking off summer

Happy Memorial Day!  

Just a few scenes from our beautiful hometown of San Diego.

The coastline in La Jolla.

Photo by AMagill.  Original can be found here.

 

Take a lesson from the Surf Divas.  

Boys are welcome too.

Take drive out to Palomar Observatory

to gaze at some of this:

Hotel del Coronado, photographed in 1900.

Locals know it as "The Del."  It is a National Historic Landmark and one of the last examples of a wooden Victorian beach resort.

Don't miss the lobby...

...or the incredible ballroom.

Another summertime "Del" that might be familiar to the East Coast crowd is a classic summer treat called Del's Frozen Lemonade.   Started in 1948 at a little stand in Cranston, RI, Del's still uses a recipe developed in 1840 by the DeLucia family from Naples, Italy.  

Anyone from Rhode Island will tell you - there is nothing better than an icy cold Del's on those 90 degree + 90% humidity days.

San Diego is undeniably a military town, with a large number of Naval and Marine bases throughout the county.  So we can't forget to say thank you on this day for those men and women, in all branches of the service, who have given their lives while serving our nation.  We are all grateful for their tremendous sacrifices.

Wishing you and your families a safe and fun holiday weekend.  And may we all have a summer filled with sunny beaches, ice-cold lemonade and slow, breezy evenings relaxing with the ones we love.

Deep, rich colors - a makeover for our Marseille Collection

From the moment that we introduced it, our Marseille Collection has been one of our most celebrated and popular tile designs.   We have seen this versatile pattern used in kitchen backsplashes, large and small, and also scaled up for large format flooring applications.   It even won the coveted Platinum Award for Design Excellence (ADEX) for 2009.

The Marseille Collection was inspired by Jacobean embroidery, using highly stylized floral designs with flowing vines and leaves.  This type of embroidery was popular during the reign of King James I of England, in fabrics used for elaborate tapestries, bed hangings, curtains and even stylish jackets worn by both men and women. 

Ladies, can you imagine dressing yourselves in all those layers of embroidered, lace finery every morning?  And Gentlemen - how many of you could rock that terrific gold, leafy shirt like this guy is doing?  (Hawaiian shirts don't count.)  He owns that look.

We originally introduced this collection with three colorways - Red, Blue-Green and Green-Yellow.

In the past few months, our designers have been working to create different color palettes for this design.  We are going with rich, deep hues that really make a statement - Burgundy, Sage Green and Deep Brown.  Earthy and warm, but with enough boldness to add a stunning focal point to any room.

Burgundy

Sage Green

Deep Brown

The colors that you see here will become a bit more muted after these designs are printed on our stone tiles.  The shading of the natural stone will show through in the areas that are white in these pictures.  The warm color and natural texture of the stone will add so much to the unique beauty of these designs.  You will never get quite the same result on a porcelain or ceramic tile.  The natural stone gives this collection a warmth and a timeless feel that maintains the connection to its historic origins.