American Craft 2010 02-03, page 15 read online

Prod lift Placement

M o ta w i

T ilew orks

In 1988 Nawal Motawi, the

owner of Motawi Tileworks in

Ann Arbor, m i, took a tile pro-

duction job at the legendary

Pewabic Pottery in Detroit.

Motawi, who studied ceramics

at the University of Michigan,

was trying to “find my way,”

she says. She found inspiration

at Pew'abic, where she fell in

love with the pottery’s Arts and

Crafts-style works.

In 1992 Motawi struck out

on her own and in a 600-square-

foot garage began creating the

historically informed tile designs

abic, Grueby, Rookvvood, the

Roycrofters, Ernest Batchelder

and William De Morgan, as well

as the architecture of Louis Sul-

livan and Frank Lloyd Wright.

In 1993 her brother Karim,

just graduated from Michigan,

joined her. “Karim was at the

beginning of his finding-his-

way period,” Motawi explains.

“He started helping me, and I

asked him if he would work for

me. He replied that he would

not work for me but that he

would work with me.”

It was a struggle in the begin-

ning. “Who knows the depths

of their own ignorance when

they start out?” Motawi says.

“The biggest challenge was one

I understood from the begin-

ning-! didn’t know who my

customers would be, where to

find them or what a tile business

without 90 years of history be-

hind it looked like.”

After nearly a year of show-

ing at a local farmers market, the

company had a breakthrough.

“I was sort of holding my breath

as I asked my first fireplace cli-

ent for a $250 non-refundable

design fee,” Motawi reflects.

“She said, ‘Okay!’ I designed it,

Karim pressed it, I glazed it

and I still like it.” When the

customer’s neighbors saw the

fireplace, they soon became

clients. “We were on our way!”

Motawi says.

Drawing from the different

Arts and Crafts styles, Motawi

has worked closely with her

team to develop a striking com-

bination of color and design that

reflects her own sensibilities.

This can be seen in the com-

pany’s two distinct decorative

formats—the relief tiles that

have a sculptural quality in low-

relief and are colored with a

single glaze and the polychrome

tiles that have many colors sepa-

rated by tiny ridges of clay,

a mosaic-like effect.

“I am very fussy about the

tile designs. I will keep working

a visual idea until I get it right,”

Motawi says. “Sometimes I’ll

think something isn’t great, but

the employees love it. When I’m

the only one who loves a design,

I know it’s time to scrap it.”

Motawi Tileworks has now

evolved into a 30-employee

business that creates custom-

designed residential installa-

tions©, sells tile through galler-

ies and showrooms, and makes

one-of-a-kind murals for public

and private buildings. Things

continue to change; Karim has

decided to leave, so Nawal has

the extremely challenging but

exciting job of being solely re-

sponsible for the company. She

is well prepared to take on any

bumps in the road. Remaining

focused on her mission of ex-

ploring new design while hon-

oring the past has been the key

to Motawi’s success. “Realistic

reproduction doesn’t interest

me,” she says. “Art allows you

to see things through a different

lens. Part of what my tile art-

work does is present and accen-

tuate a motif in such a way as to

show off its inherent loveliness.

It’s vital that at least some of

our work is functional. Per the

old axiom: I feel it’s important

to produce things that are either

useful or beautiful, and ideally

both.”—

s.s.

Arts & Crafts Potteries

A few potteries have survivedfrom

the turn o f the 20th century, or been

revived recently. Among those ex-

tant are Moravian Pottery and

Tile Works in Doylestown,

P A ,

aiul Pewabic Pottery. In addition,

ceramics in the style o f the now-

defunct Rookwood, Grueby and

Gates (Teco) potteries are being

made by various businesses— many

o f them also producing original

desigtis: Tile Restoration Center,

Seattle; Mission Guild Studio,

Mount Vision,

N T ;

Pruckler Ce-

ramic Design, Femdale,

M l;

North

Prairie Tileworks, Minneapolis;

Prairie Arts, Lisle, IL.

Hot Spots

B e k o f

Show s

Gallery shows, listed A -Z by

state. View complete calendar:

americancraftmag.org

AL / Troy

Troy University

25th Annual Alabama Clay

Conference

Feb. 19-21

alclayconference.org