Motawi Tileworks

I do love Motawi tiles very much and think they are beautiful works of art. This rating in no way reflects the actual product, but I, too, like the previous reviewer, attempted to attend the mega sale this morning. I drove about a half hour to get to the store (I had other business in Ann Arbor anyway so it wasn’t a total wasted trip) and was shocked at the number of cars in the lot. I have never been to their mega holiday sale before, but I have been wanting the «Perfect Tree» tile and figured today might be the time to get some additional savings on it. The postcard said up to 85% off imperfect art tile, etc. and 25% off any one tile. When I got in the door, I did not see any seconds of the tile I was looking for. There were many firsts so I grabbed one and figured I would at least get 25% off of it. It was then that I attempted to find the end of the incredibly long «checkout» line that wound all throughout the inside of the entire store that I realized that I would be standing in that line for probably an hour just to get about 19 dollars off my tile. Yes, a great savings, but not if you value your time. So, I put the tile back and walked out the door. As I said, this review and rating is not a reflection on the lovely tiles and amazing artistry involved. This is a reflection of a sale that, in my opinion, isn’t properly executed in that there are far too many people trying to take advantage of it in too short of a time frame. If Motawi could simply spread the sale over a few days or a Thursday-​Sunday time frame, it would alleviate lots of the craziness and more people could walk out with a tile in hand and feel great about their experience. I really wanted that tile for the holidays and would have loved to have gotten it at 25% off. But spending a chunk of a Saturday in December in a very long line in a small space just doesn’t appeal to me when there are so many other things that need to be done for the holiday season.

Today I finally got to attend the Motawi annual holiday mega sale, an event I had been wanting to attend for many years. I arrived at 10:15 AM, and stood in line for over a half an hour to get into the building. At the doorway an employee informed me that people had been waiting in line prior to 830 this morning. The postcard I received indicated savings of up to 85% off tile. Inside the warehouse there were first run tiles at regular price, and seconds, discontinued items, and imperfect tiles available for sale at 40% off. The postcard I had entitled me to 25% off one tile. There was no evidence of anything being on sale. The first run tile was regular price, and the second runs were 40% off which is the regular price for seconds. Field tile was being sold by the pound, and I don’t know if this is the regular practice or if that was the savings item. I then stood in line for over an hour to pay for my purchases. So the bottom line is that there was no sale, it was a holiday open house and a lot of hype, but no real savings. The prices I saw for decorative tiles are the regular prices available any other day the store is open, with the exception of the one discount coupon. Unless you have a lot of time to waste and love being in large tight crowds and long lines, don’t bother with this so-​called «sale».

We’ve been wanting to resurface our brick fireplace in our 1910 Arts and Crafts home since we bought it. After researching different custom tile manufactures we decided Motawi suited our tastes the best and made the trip to Ann Arbor to discuss the process and view the tiles first hand.
Motawi Tileworks is a great place, everyone we spoke with was welcoming, friendly, and knowable about all the products. Great showroom. Their tile boneyard is equally great.
Our intention was fact gathering but couldn’t resist the urge to buy their address number tiles, two songbird tiles to flank either side of the numbers and a Nutcracker and Christmas tree tile to change out with the songbirds at Christmas time. We couldn’t wait to see how’d they look and hung them this morning as soon as the sun came up. They look great.
Totally hooked on Motawi Tile and will be back for more. The quality and attention to detail is like no other. We remodeled our kitchen 2 months ago with tile for the backsplash from a local tile shop and have already decided to take it down and replace with Motawi Tile. Our next trip to Motawi is December 5 to take our kids to participate in the make your own tile and annual sale.
Motawi Tileworks is utterly and completely addictive from the first purchase!

Worth a stop, if nothing else but to appreciate art in action! The seconds are first in my book.