Tile artisan team crafts a hand-shaped mosaic of Fonthill Castle
The third weekend of May marked the 25th anniversary of TileFest. This premiere celebration of handmade tile in the country was held on the grounds of the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, Pa.: a historic handmade tile factory was built in the early 1900s by Henry Chapman Mercer and is still in operation. The dedicated staff produce handmade tile from replicas of Mercer’s original molds. These signature tiles adorn many local settings, from sites in and around Doylestown to the State Capitol Building in Harrisburg Pa., and across the country.
The festival began in 1998, co-sponsored by the museum and the Tile Heritage Foundation. It has grown over the years, and has been revitalized under the leadership of local tile maker in her own right — Katia McGuirk, who studied and worked at the TileWorks. She became Executive Director in 2021 when Bucks County assumed ownership of the historic site. Since then McGuirk has supported the mission of honoring the past and crafting the future by inspiring interest and curiosity about the TileWorks. She’s established cultural events, bluegrass concerts, Halloween pumpkin carving competitions and classes and workshops that involve the community. These events all expand the hub of creativity, history and artistry that the TileWorks represents.
The tile curious flock to TileFest
The results of her vision were evident this year. Throngs of visitors — almost 1,300 a day — streamed to the site over the weekend, despite rain, heat and wind – and some balmy sunshine. And TileWorks was ready — with an expanded presence that included two mammoth tents dedicated to handmade tile maker exhibitors from around the country and kiosks housing tile makers lining the courtyard. TileFest also included tours of the historic factory, food trucks, and station where visitors could pick up the receiver of Mercer’s phone and record their own stories about the impact of tile in their lives.
Another huge tent was dedicated to a variety of activities. These included a Wild Clay station where former TileWorks apprentice and current ceramic artist, poet, philosopher and craftivist Mike Medieros invited visitors to make letters out of clay. These letters will help form a poster to promote TileFest 2026. A station staffed by Delaware Valley Conservation volunteers invited attendees to paint with soil-based pigment. At the second annual Tile Throwdown, folks molded, shaped, stenciled and decorated a tile from a block of clay. At another station, visitors glazed stars that will be installed in a mural to benefit the Travis Manion Foundation. Other exhibitors – including LimeWorks and LATICRETE – populated the tent and answered questions about their products.
A.R.T.’s ambitious mural at TileFest
Last year, graduates of the 2023 Artisans Revolutions in Tile class flocked to TileFest to demonstrate their craft and show what is possible using stone and commercial tile to form a range of mosaic designs and patterns. This year, the “A.R.T.isans” – a combination of graduates of both classes — set up a bigger space to create an ambitious 23” x 44” mosaic of Fonthill Castle. This historic structure was Henry Chapman Mercer’s home — a marvel in itself, and just a short walk from the factory. They used stone and porcelain, incorporating Mercer terracotta for accents in the design, along with limestone, honey onyx, black absolute, verde marble, slate, porcelain and handmade tile from The TileWorks.
The A.R.T.isan team included: Chris Resti, Crest Tile and Mosaic, Hilton, N.Y., Aryk Snowberger and wife Rochelle of Snowbee Custom Tile of Canton, Ohio, Chris Osterritter of Art by Tile and son Mason from Wilmerding, Pa., and Trevor Hook of Hooked on Tile in Evansville, Wis., all of whom drove in for the event. Bobby Bell of Bobby Bell Floors in Louisville Ky., and Maria Meyer — originally an artisan tile apprentice under Lee Callewaert at Dragonfly, now employed by Nichols Tile and Terrazzo in Joelton, Tenn. — flew in for the event. Meyer designed the Fonthill mosaic which was the project for the group.
The team set to work applying pieces of vinyl template to selected materials and then skillfully cut each piece on the wet or ring saws. Resti conceived of a shortcut for cutting the many, many window panes on the Fonthill mosaic, deftly wielding a Dremel tool to score the material and speed the process.
Amidst the sound of whirring saws and shapers as the A.R.T.isans shaped the intricate design, the team fielded a constant stream of questions from visitors to the booth. Resti said visitors expressed interest in the Artisan Movement and the A.R.T. Training. “The whole festival is about keeping the roots and traditions of our trade, and I believe we represented that well. Being at TileFest is inspiring and uplifting; I always leave energized and excited. It is great to be around so many like-minded individuals.”
The activity tent also was home to the second annual gathering of the graduates of the Artisans Revolution in Tile (A.R.T.) Training, which has been held at the Dragonfly Tile And StoneWorks studio in Milwaukee, Wis. the last two years. About 15 experienced tile setters have attended this training annually, sponsored by the National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA), LATICRETE, Daltile and others. Participants experience an immersive course in design, marketing, and importantly, techniques to hand shape a mosaic out of a range of ceramic, porcelain and stone, using wet saws, ring saws and shapers. The skills are only part of the story, though, since a community of support and encouragement has bonded these graduates and impelled them to integrate artwork into their installations.
Bell was an enthusiastic newcomer to TileFest. “I really enjoyed helping with the mosaic of the castle, but what I liked even better was meeting all the people interested in what we’re doing and explaining things along with answering questions the best I could,” he said. Bell plans to incorporate some of what he learned working on the mosaic into his own work. “I can’t wait to get back there again next year.”
TileFest first time visitors
In addition to this group, local tile setters Ashley Singer of Tile Jawn and Paige Pomerene – formerly with Schluter and now operator of P2 Customs/ToastyToes Radiant Flooring Repair – dropped by to visit and get their hands on the saw in service to the mosaic. Both women will be part of this year’s A.R.T. Class taking place September 29-Oct 2 in Nashville, Tenn.
But TileFest was also a magnet for first timers in the installation community— Gianna Vallefuoco of Vallefuoco Contractors LLC – and NTCA Regional Director — drove from Rockville Md., with a friend on Saturday.
“I had no idea that such a magical experience was only a 3-hour drive,” Vallefuoco said. “It was a hands-on, hearts-in experience for anyone who set foot there. You have to be in the energy to understand what TileFest is about; which is community, art, inspiration, history, and deep connection to art and each other!”
Ron Nash, COO and President of LATICRETE International flew in from Utah to attend on both days with wife Tiffany – and they were thrilled to be part of the experience. “It was a fantastic celebration of the art of clay and the heritage of tile artistry, and touring the historic tileworks together was truly inspiring,” Nash said. “We could feel the legacy of craftsmanship in every tile, and the energy and passion of this community were absolutely infectious.”
A co-founder’s perspective
Joe Taylor and Sheila Menzies, founders of Tile Heritage Foundation (THF) — which along with TileWorks, Merola Tile,Distributors, Bucks County and Bucks County Tourism Grant Program, Penn Community Ban and William Penn Roofing — sponsor the event noted, “TileFest 2025 was another fun, vibrant, and super well-attended event made possible by great cooperative planning with the TileWorks team, event sponsors and all of the participating artisan vendors and workshop providers – ‘It takes a village’ applies here!”
Artisans around the country donated over 50 tiles to the Tile Heritage booth which were sold to benefit the Foundation, and were packaged with a planned giving brochure to encourage donations to THF, which fuel its work and programs. Plus, every maker and seller received a copy of the THF invitation to open a file in the THF Archives for free. (Visit https://www.tileletter.com/build-your-legacy-by-opening-a-file-in-the-tile-heritage-foundation-archives/ for more information about the archives and how to archive your work for posterity).
Commenting on the quarter-century celebration of TileFest, McGuirk added that tile makers come from across the country to reunite with those who buy their tiles each year. A grant from Visit Bucks Tourism Grant and social media magic allowed The TileWorks to cast a wider net and pull in tile makers — and visitors beyond the local region. She explained that the theme of the event – “Stories in Clay” – hearkens back to Henry Chapman Mercer, whose work was not just about “beauty and aesthetics alone. Clay gave him a tool to use to tell his tile stories,” she said. “Everybody here is so unique, with such a different look, and such a different approach to this amazing medium.” To extend support for rebuilding of clay studios affected by flooding in Asheville, N.C. after Hurricane Helene, one dollar from every TileFest ticket was donated to CERF, the Craft Emergency Relief Fund.
At the end of the weekend, the “army of tile setters,” as McGuirk called them, face-taped the mosaic, with intent to finish in 2026 and demonstrate other aspects of the process, such as premounting and grouting. Plus, they are already thinking about an additional mosaic to tackle in 2026.
Want more information about the TileWorks and TileFest? Visit thetileworks.org. And join the Tile Trade Artisans Guild on Facebook to learn more about the A.R.T. Trainings this year and beyond.
Lesley Goddin has been writing and journaling since her first diary at age 11. Her journey has taken her through a career in publishing and publicity, landing her the editor position of TileLetter and its special publications in 2006. Her goal is to educate, inspire, recognize and encourage those in the tile industry -- especially the tile and stone contractor.
