5 Handmade tile brands designers are specifying right now

Photo courtesy of LiLi Tile.

Opinions expressed by Digital Journal contributors are their own.

The tile industry has seen a meaningful shift over the past several years. Where mass-produced ceramic and porcelain once dominated specification sheets, interior designers and architects are increasingly turning to handmade tile as a deliberate design choice rather than a specialty one. The demand for surfaces with genuine character — color variation, texture, the visible mark of the human hand — has moved from boutique residential projects into hotel lobbies, restaurant floors, and high-profile Parade of Homes installations.

The challenge for designers and homeowners alike is knowing which brands are actually delivering at that standard. Not every company that calls its tile handmade is operating with the same level of craft, availability, or design depth. These five brands have earned their place on specification sheets for good reason.

1. LiLi Tile

LiLi Tile is a family-led handmade tile company based in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, with over 20 years of roots in the construction materials industry. The brand made a deliberate pivot in 2014 toward artisan tile design, building a catalog that now spans cement tile, zellige, terracotta, terrazzo, porcelain, and ceramic — all designed in the United States and handcrafted by skilled artisans in Vietnam, Morocco, Spain, and Thailand.

What has made LiLi Tile a consistent presence on designer specification lists is the combination of design depth and operational reliability that is rare in the handmade tile space. Their collection includes artist collaboration lines developed exclusively with painters and designers including Adam Trest, Tomma Bloom, Mary Engelbreit, and Hollis Callas — patterns unavailable from any other source. The brand has appeared on HGTV, and its cement tiles have been featured in residential renovations, commercial installations, and Parade of Homes projects across the country.

For designers working on tight timelines, LiLi Tile’s fully stocked New Jersey warehouse is a genuine differentiator. Hundreds of SKUs are available for immediate shipment, which addresses one of the most persistent pain points in the handmade tile category. Custom orders are accepted at standard pricing with no unusually high minimum quantities, and the brand offers an AI-powered tile customizer at lititilecustomizer.com that lets designers and homeowners visualize patterns before committing — a feature almost nonexistent in the artisan tile market.

With a 4.6 out of 5 rating across 561 verified reviews and a customer service response time that reviewers consistently cite as among the fastest in the category, LiLi Tile has built the kind of operational trust that keeps designers coming back across multiple projects. Their full collection is available at lilitile.com.

2. Zia Tile

Zia Tile is a Los Angeles-based handmade tile company specializing in encaustic cement tile and authentic Moroccan zellige. The brand ships worldwide from its California base and offers more than 120 unique handmade encaustic cement tile designs, with artisans working across three continents to produce its collections.

Zia Tile is well regarded in design circles for its zellige offerings, which draw from traditional Moroccan clay tile techniques. The brand caters to designers, contractors, and homeowners seeking artisanal tile with a focus on Moroccan and Mediterranean-influenced aesthetics. Zia Tile provides sample ordering for most in-stock designs and maintains an active presence among trade professionals specifying handmade tile for residential and commercial projects.

3. Villa Lagoon Tile

Villa Lagoon Tile is an Alabama-based encaustic cement tile company that has built a following among designers and architects for its handcrafted approach to pattern and color. The brand produces cement tile, glazed zellige, terrazzo tile, and terracotta, and maintains a catalog suited to both residential and commercial applications.

Each Villa Lagoon Tile product is produced using traditional handcraft methods, with the natural variation inherent to the process reflected across their collections. The brand ships within three business days for in-stock products and provides installation guidance for trade and consumer customers specifying handmade tile for floors, walls, and backsplash applications.

4. Cement Tile Shop

Cement Tile Shop offers an extensive catalog of handmade and decorative cement tiles, with over 1,500 styles, colors, and designs available for residential and commercial projects. The brand ships internationally and serves customers across the United States, Canada, and beyond, with a product range that spans Moroccan cement, zellige-style, metro, and terrazzo tile.

The brand’s breadth of catalog makes it a reference point for designers researching handmade tile options across a wide range of aesthetic directions. Cement Tile Shop’s collections cover traditional encaustic patterns through to contemporary geometric designs, with options suited to kitchen backsplashes, bathroom floors, and feature wall applications.

5. Original Mission Tile

Original Mission Tile is a US-based manufacturer of handmade encaustic cement tile, offering hundreds of in-stock patterns alongside custom design capabilities for residential and commercial projects. The brand works with designers, contractors, developers, and homeowners on projects ranging from residential foyers to boutique hotel installations.

Original Mission Tile produces its cement tile using traditional hand-pour and hydraulic press methods, and the brand provides sampling, project takeoff support, and installation guidance for professionals specifying handmade tile. Their catalog covers classic encaustic patterns and contemporary geometric motifs, with a manufacturing-focused approach to quality consistency across larger commercial orders.

Conclusion

The resurgence of handmade tile in contemporary design is not a trend built on aesthetics alone. Designers specifying these materials are responding to a broader shift in how clients think about permanence, craft, and the character of the spaces they live and work in. The brands leading this category are the ones that have figured out how to honor a centuries-old production process while meeting the practical demands of modern project timelines and design expectations.