“The driving force behind Mercury Mosaics is a steadfast conviction: that an artist shouldn’t have to starve to create their masterworks.”
– Mercedes Austin, Owner, Founder and Self-Made Artrepreneur at Mercury Mosaics
Mercedes Austin, the Founder, Owner and Self-Made Artrepreneur at Mercury Mosaics in Minneapolis, Minn., has taken her labor of love from humble beginnings to a heart- and art-centered mosaic-making enterprise that spans the country – and the globe – with its unique brand of handmade tiles for residential and commercial spaces.
As a college student in Northeast Minneapolis, Austin witnessed her roommate breaking up tiles to create a mosaic table. It was love at first sight for Austin. “I was immediately awestruck,” she said. Mosaics encompassed many creative and artistic disciplines for her – math, design, architecture, painting, photography – keeping Austin engaged because there were so many aspects about the craft she could explore.
She made the leap to doing this work full time, amazed and encouraged when a client hired her for $900 to create ceramic switch plate covers for their house, and then when an affluent client contracted her for a significant project. “I never even met these people and they found ME?” she said. “I was like, OK, we got something good here.”
With some handmade tile making and study of the craft in Italy under her belt, Austin funded the first kiln for Mercury Mosaics (mercurymosaics.com) 22 years ago with her tax refunds and proceeds from the sale of an extensive CD collection. A one-woman show, she built her company into a community of like-minded makers and has continued to fine-tune her operations to create a human-scale business with the resources to produce the kind of tiles she wants – in a life-affirming work environment. “You either build and grow, or coast and decline,” she said.
One of the company values is standing in solidarity against systemic violence towards black communities and Mercury Mosaics is actively involved in the fight against systemic racism. Social conscience melds with sustainable production of a wide array of shapes and patterns: diamonds, subway tiles, Moroccan fish scales, herringbones, hexagons, triangles, bubbles, penny rounds, and more, plus signature patterns like Craftsman Squares, Mid Mod Squares or the Rise shape in a range of custom color blends – and custom tiles for projects.
And talking about colors – the range of colors is dizzying and delicious, with rich, luscious glazes from earthy to jeweled, and everything in between.
And what of the less-than-perfect tiles that are bound to occur with a handmade process? Mercury Mosaics holds renowned warehouse sales with discounts of up to 70% off on overstock, remnants, and “misfit” tiles as Austin lovingly calls them. (View Natalie Hall’s entry in the Artisan Gallery in this issue to see some of them in action.)
Another outlet for these repurposed beauties is the Mosaic Candy Shop (mosaiccandyshop.com), where one can select kits of mosaic pieces and instructions for crafters and burgeoning mosaic artists to assemble hand-crafted mosaics at home.
Growing and refining
As the Certified Women’s Business Enterprise grew, Austin opened a 2,500-sq.-ft. Minneapolis Design Studio showroom in 2022. This multifunctional space showcases beautiful handmade tile, framed with wood for a “modern vintage feel” that evokes “gallery-vibes.” It is a smoothly run showroom, community space for networking, and a flexible workspace. And it allows for the services of tile concierges that guide clients through the process of customizing their look. “People don’t know until you show them,” Austin said.
Next up was an expansion of the factory to a 15,000-sq.-ft. spacious container for creativity, which is triple the size of the former factory. With high ceilings and ample natural light, the space offers room to grow and is “friendly for human beings to work and prosper,” especially with a “million jillion carts with wheels, palettes, and dogs” that populate the tile-making community.
Another priority was making the factory environmentally-conscious, with locally-sourced lead-free glazes and non-toxic clay so the tile artisans don’t have to wear masks or protective moon suits. Dedicated to the craft, these tile makers have taken ownership of innovating processes and improving every area, hand-cutting, hand-glazing and firing each piece of tile. “We are working towards tile world domination together,” Austin said.
In process
How to curate a creative, profitable business that maintains a social conscience and a nurturing environment for staff?
“The process of growth has been one of expansion – and whittling,” Austin said. “About seven years ago there was the idea that we needed to standardize what we are doing. I made the decision to have an easier business model to ‘rinse and repeat’ to keep the amount of business coming in to support crew and benefits.”
What was key to Austin was retaining the essence of studio production artisan tile and finding a balance between ultra custom work and staid standard tile that allows a “steady bread and butter business while constantly feeding our soul,” she explained.
On the horizon
There’s a lot percolating for Mercury Mosaics, which has been touted by The Spruce, Room & Board, Star Tribune, Fast Company, Martha Stewart, Iconic Life and local affiliate FOX 9 KMSP. The Home Accessories Collection will launch in 2025, an outgrowth of Mercedes Austin Art, established in 2022. Mercedes Austin Art had been her dream since 2001, building her parallel identity as an artist alongside her entrepreneurship. It revived her dream of being an artist with the medium of mosaics in a connected network of inspiration, experience and expression. Her wall art is visible at mercedesaustinart.com.
Coming to Las Vegas in February, Mercury Mosaics will partner with Cafe Appliances at KBIS with a quartet of “canvases”: runway tile looks in a kitchen setting that show what is possible with handmade tile. She’ll also give a talk as a key partner in the booth.
This comes on the heels of a Coverings Installation Design Award this last April for work Mercury Mosaics did with Dyani White Hawk at the Whitney Museum in New York City, with the “Nourish” installation in the museum’s cafe. This partnership developed “literally through breaking bread with a neighbor in the building I am in at a community artist markets potluck,” she said. “At community events, I make it a point to not sit with coworkers and go meet someone new – that’s where the magic happens.”
Another celebrated project was the three story tile mural for St. Olaf College’s Ole Avenue residence hall. The St. Olaf project inventively rendered a shortened version of the “Um! Yah! Yah!” school rallying cry in a tile pattern of binary code, arranged in a gradient of colors that reflect the changing seasons.
Collaboration
Creating luminous handmade tile is one thing. Installing it is another. The team relies on trusted installers and contractors to install these tile gems with the same spirit of excellence with which they are made.
NTCA’s Jan Hohn of Hohn & Hohn Inc. from nearby St. Paul, Minn., and an NTCA Five-Star Contractor, is a recommended installer for Mercury Mosaic. “She was the first woman NTCA member to achieve Certified Installer status,” Austin exclaimed. “She used to intimidate me, and she made me cry from inspiration at Coverings. She told me ‘You guys have come up so much in your quality since 2013.’ Our tile had a lot of room to grow, and we had a lot of work to do. Now we have the Jan Hohn seal of approval!”
Another installer is Artistry in Tile’s Natalie Hall, from Hudson, Wis., an NTCA Member who has long worked with Mercury Mosaic tiles, and this past June took the Artisans Revolution in Tile Training to create hand-shaped mosaic murals and insets at Dragonfly Tile & Stone Works in Milwaukee. “We would love to partner more with the Natalie Halls of the world,” Austin said.
To support installers, the company provides a four-page installation guide for handmade tile on its website that offers a range of recommendations and tips for getting the best installation with these artisan tiles. And Mercury Mosaics offers a Trade Program, designed to foster collaboration. Trade partners can get free samples and design support, including a dedicated tile specialist and custom project renderings. Those who choose to be Brand Ambassador Partners also receive trade pricing.
While at Coverings to receive her award for Nourish last April, Austin also participated on the Women Talking: The Shero’s Journey panel that celebrates women from various sectors of the tile industry and traces their paths to success. She shared her favorite quote by Julia Child with the audience: “Find something you are passionate about and stay tremendously interested in it.” Through the many conscious iterations and growth paths of the company to where it is today, it is clear Mercedes Austin has remained true to this inspiration and continues to bring artisan tile to new audiences at every opportunity.
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.
