Gold may be its most famous product, but California’s rich earth produced another treasure: the colorful, beautiful, endlessly inventive decorative tiles that have enlivened commercial buildings, castles and cottages in the state since the Craftsman era at the dawn of the 20th century. With over 40 companies manufacturing art or commercial tiles between 1910 and 1940, California was one of the country’s leading producers. These architectural tiles reflect the variety and color of the state’s ample deposits of clay, and respond to changing artistic, cultural, and social trends. Tilemakers can be found all over the state: Pasadena’s Ernest Batchelder created muted, Tonalist-inspired tiles sold as far afield as Chicago and New York; in San Diego, Walter Nordhoff’s California China Products crafted brilliant, polychromatic Hispano-Moresque faience tiles that sparked the Spanish Colonial Revival that still characterizes local architecture. Malibu, Catalina Island, Berkeley, Hermosa Beach, Merced, Santa Barbara, Sausalito—all these corners of the state produced tiles that brought style and shine to local architecture. From Hearst Castle to the Norton Simon Museum, from Bullock’s Wilshire to the house down the street, California tiles were, and are, everywhere.

Avril Angevine is an arts lecturer with a particular interest in modern, contemporary, and California art. She speaks on many subjects at various locations in the Bay Area, including the OLLI programs at Cal State East Bay, Dominican College, San Francisco State, and the Fromm Institute. Avril has a BA in English and an MA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley and taught English and Humanities at local colleges. She is also a museum guide at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and a docent at the Oakland Museum of California.