Janet Starr — Craftsman Tiles by Feature Tile

handmade ceramic tile

Janet Starr began hand-crafting ceramic tile in 1987, and since 1996, her focus has been on handmade tiles inspired by the Arts & Crafts period. She studied painting at California College of Arts and Crafts and has a degree in Fine Art from UC Santa Cruz. With her fine art background, she can develop custom designs for any tile project. She has developed her tile making process and her proprietary glazes formulated to recreate the color palette of the Arts & Crafts movement. All work is produced in her Soquel, CA studio overlooking the Monterey Bay.

The tiles are made in a style called Cuenca. which means raised line. In these multi-colored tiles, the glaze colors are pooled between the lines. Although all the designs are original, she has been influenced by the tiles from Hispano Moresque, S&S, American Encaustic, Kraftile and Catalina Pottery. Many designs are created in sets for flexibility of application. The tiles are installed in fireplace surrounds, kitchen backsplashes, bathrooms, stair risers, patios and commercial signs. They can be used both indoors and outdoors because they are made of stoneware clay. Janet Starr’s tiles are installed in many hundreds of homes both locally and nationally and she has been featured in Sunset Magazine. You can see other tiles at these websites: www.craftsmantiles.com and www.featuretile.com.