Tile 101 with Decorative Materials
Photographer: Susie Brenner
Tile serves as more than just a protective surface for areas in your home. By enhancing the look and feel of a space and bringing to life the design that homeowners envision, they play a very important role in interior design. At Atelier Interior Design, tile is one of our go-to finishing materials due to the wide variety of color, textures, materials, and shapes. Speaking of “wide variety”, we can’t talk about it without mentioning Decorative Materials. When we’re on the hunt for a great selection of “Atelier-style” (you guessed it - Color, Pattern, Culture) options to take our pick from, we always turn to Decorative Materials, a showroom that has been delivering the most unique blend of tile, stone, and bath products for 35 years.
Follow along below as we learn more about Decorative Materials, what’s new in tile in 2023, and more via an interview with the one and only, Monica Lozano, Decorative Materials Design Consultant.
Photographer: Susie Brenner
ON DECORATIVE MATERIALS
Q: How long has Decorative Materials been in business and how was it started?
Monica: We’ve been in business for the better part of 30 years. Margot Hampleman, Founder and CEO, started the business when working on her personal home. She became fascinated with smaller artisans and all they had to offer and saw an opportunity to provide a platform to showcase them in Colorado. It has grown from Margot sharing tile samples out of the trunk of her car to a multi-showroom company - three base showrooms and two satellite, all in Colorado.
Q: How does Decorative Materials source their tile?
Monica: Decorative Materials sources from all over the world. It started with a focus in smaller artisans and bringing to light the specialty artisans from the United States, but it has since expanded globally. Now, we reach out to Portugal, Italy, Spain, all over the world. Our goal is to bring those speciality artisans to the forefront of the interior design industry in Colorado and beyond.
Q: How does Decorative Materials stay “current” with design demand?
Monica: Our global reach when it comes to sourcing plays a big part in this. Specifically though, Margot and Kirsten, often look to Europe to stay up-to-date on design demand and what’s emerging. A lot of unique colorful, pattern-filled product comes out of Europe.
Photographer: Emily Redfield
ON TILE
Q: You know we hate the word “trends” - so, what is having a moment right now in the world of tile?
Monica: We are seeing a lot of color! During the pandemic, we were seeing more neutrals, whites, beiges, and blues. Post-pandemic, we are seeing the emergence of more color and pattern, which I know Atelier gets excited about. From warm colors, jewel tones, saturated colors, and metallics; all growing in popularity and having a moment. It seems that that those that have been stuck at home are wanting to bring some life into their home.
Q: Any collaborations to note?
Monica: Yes! A new collaboration that I’m just obsessed with is Pratt and Larson and Kat and Roger. The Kat and Roger team develops pottery and they do a lot with color so the collaboration is a great fit.
Q: We were talking the other day about mosaics and how old world is making a comeback?
Monica: Great point! Yes, we are seeing a lot of organic, earthy, artisan-core driven mosaics that are stunning and transport you back in time. There are a lot of hand-clipped, hands-on options with experimentation around blending color. They are taking the grassroots technique of hand-chopped and applying that to contemporary patterns for a more modern twist.
Q: Switching gears - KJ Patterson is one of my all time favorites. Can we talk about her for a moment?
Monica: She is one of my favorites as well! She is a small artisan and has stayed true to that through the years, but her work has become really popular. The development of her line and collection really came about solely from her. She developed the line based on a project she worked on for Hearst Castle in California. KJ is an incredibly reliable go-to for color, pattern, and durability.
Photographer: Emily Redfield
ON HIRING AN INTERIOR DESIGNER
Q: You’re a big advocate of Decorative Materials’ clients working with an interior designer on their project. Why is that?
Monica: There is just so much value in hiring an interior designer. If you’re going to make the investment into great tile, and into a project as a whole, It’s incredibly important to have someone that can compartmentalize your job, work with your contractor, ask questions about color and technical aspects, and so on. In my opinion, it’s a huge necessity to have a designer come in with a big picture view and the ability to bring it all together from the tile to the lighting, furniture, etc. From the Decorative Materials side, we find incredible value in working with designers to understand color and theme and collaborating where it meets application and installation.
Are you ready to tackle an interior design project in your home - and find the best tile for it? Atelier Interior Design has the connections to make your Denver, CO home into a dream home! Contact us today!