Architect Andrea Keller was frustrated with the way her profession and wanted to pursue her other interests, such as making crafts with her hands and a love of complex patterns. Meanwhile, Mikayla Mitchell, a business-minded creative, wanted to live as an extension of nature. Fate stepped in, the two women met and a new tile brand was born.
Launched in 2023, Star Tile is a design-forward luxury brand that is out to revolutionize surface design. Made by hand in California, Star Tile reimagines ceramics as multidimensional fractals—honoring the geometry of form. Almost all of Star Tile’s products are inspired by the natural world and textured, offering tactile experience to anyone close enough to touch the surface.
[ Read More: A Conversation with Architect Janet Bloomberg ]
“Our artisanal handmade bespoke adornments are designed to be interacted with as a whole, and were created to transport the observer into a different reality and dimension,” the Joshua Tree, Calif.-based company says on its website. “Our mission is to bring radical beauty and healing to earth through conscious design. We envision ourselves as a catalyst for a new paradigm of design that models the infinite beauty and abundance of nature, merging the physical and the mystical worlds.
The company says its pieces are meant to be engaged with and shine best in feature wall-type settings that allow them to be appreciated on a larger scale–such as boutique hotels, wellness spas, upscale retail, corporate offices lobbies, high-end restaurants, large stairwells, art galleries, exhibition spaces, kitchens and bathrooms.
Design Vibes recently caught up with the duo to learn more about the brand and its first two years in business.
[ Read More: Estudio Persona is Helping to Bring Back ‘Locally Made’ ]
Design Vibes: What made you decide to start a tile company/brand?
Andrea Keller: We both came to the idea separately and each in our own way, but when we met something just clicked. Our collaboration resulted in creating brand new forms that hadn’t been seen before.
I’m a practicing architect and specify tile for projects, so I’m constantly looking for new designs and turning to the past for inspiration. I remember being in a tile store and wanting to source outrageous art deco tile for a loft project in downtown LA. The product I was seeing just wasn’t interesting—it didn’t stimulate me, and I instantly saw multiple ways that tile surfaces could be manipulated, folded, and tweaked to bring energy and excitement to a ceramic surface. This led to an obsessive exploration of form, and we started to develop the first prototypes.
Mikayla meanwhile had visions of very dimensional home surfaces and was interested in eco-friendly construction, development, and creating materials. Her vision was more about the embodied experience of nature, while my initial designs were like the recipe that could cause that experience. We were like puzzle pieces, and our combined vision took us in creative directions that we could not have anticipated.
As we developed new products, we began seeing published studies indicating that fractal geometry can reduce human stress by 60% — simply by being in the presence of designs. It happens subconsciously! And our designs were already fractal to begin with.
DV: Is your focus solely on tile with a three-dimensional design?
Mikayla Mitchell: We make flat tile too with stamped geometric and fractal patterns, as well as field tile that can mix with our dimensional designs.
The stamped series has a low-relief surface and the mineral glazes pool in the low areas, resulting in a contrast color but smooth wall finish. We can fabricate any of our designs as a low-relief pattern.
Our third offering is hand-cut murals that are more like ceramic paintings, and these can be customized into any size. The largest of these was almost 30 feet wide. We are a boutique architectural ceramics company so we really can do anything that is needed in terms of site-specific ceramics for any building. While we are known for dimensional tile, that is only a part of what we do.
DV: Do you each bring previous experience in the tile business?
Andrea: We don’t have any background in tile or ceramics, which is what makes our products so unique. Also, we didn’t bring any preconceptions to the table. All processes we invented start with our end goal in mind rather than with available equipment or technologies. This means that our processes are ultimately different and will always yield a different result.
Ceramics is an infinitely complicated technology. Our brand is the result of pure passion, and it took incredible drive to figure out the proper fabrication and glazing techniques. We had a vision of something that was raw, alive, and beautiful in a way that mimics nature–and in making the forms from our dreams, we invented something new. I can confidently say that no other line of tile in the world is exactly like ours.
DV: Your press materials say the products are handmade. Can you tell us about the process?
Andrea: Our process is entirely hand-made from slab rolling, pressing clay into molds, sanding and glazing. We can dip the tiles, brush the glaze on or spray them depending on the look the designer is after. We have a studio filled with artisans at long tables, literally inspired by the guilds of medieval Florence which changed the course of art and design. We have always loved true artisanal craft, and we were after an aesthetic that cannot be replicated by machine, without losing its eccentricity and depth. What we are making is not unlike couture – pieces are made to order, tailored to each space, and meticulously crafted.
DV: You have been in business for about two years, what has the market reaction been so far?
Mikayla: The response has been wonderful. We have formally shown in New York and Los Angeles, and we have projects installed around the country. Designers can see that we are doing something unique—we’re able to create installations for clients who want something that no one else has. Our ethos is all about collaboration between designer and client, finding new ways to bring dimension and movement to architectural surfaces.
DV: Which one of your lines has had the most success?
Mikayla: The erosion pentagons are the most popular design, followed by our hexagons: kaiyo (wave), uchiwa (fan), and yucca.
DV: What is your distribution model? Do you offer custom capabilities?
Andrea: We sell through several showrooms in California and partner directly with designers from other states. We can customize and produce anything (tile size, color, clay body, dimension.) When we begin custom design work, it adds time to the design process for ideation, prototyping, and client approval. We also offer hand cut murals in any size. The largest installation to date was 30 feet wide.
DV: Who is your primary audience–consumers or trade?
Andrea: We sell primarily to the trade. Being from the AEC industry ourselves, we understand the needs of architects and designers, and can help with CAD drawings, renderings, digital assets, and texture maps.
DV: What are the different lines that you offer?
Andrea: We offer three technologies: Molded, Stamped, and Custom-Cut Murals.
We offer four shapes: Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and Aquilone (Kite). Three aquilones make a triangle and six of them make a large hexagon – it’s all about play with geometry.
And we also offer several different clay bodies: White Stoneware, Red Stoneware, and Porcelain for pool and fountain applications. When we start on a project, we work with the designer to figure out the best pattern, shape, clay, and glaze to work with their aesthetic.
DV: What are your plans for expansion in the future?
Mikayla: We are working on a quick-ship line and an expanded selection of low-relief designs. And we have a huge inspiration file for future designs such as natural textures, a series based on ancient architecture, symbols and glyphs.
