JANELLE STRAWSBURG
Staff Writer
Graham Shea / Photo Editor
Visitors strolling along the Hollywood Back Lot in Disney’s California Adventure theme park may notice the color and vibrancy of the large mosaics surrounding Schmoozie’s, a smoothie establishment. The creator of this work combining pieces of porcelain tile, plaster and bits of glass Topanga Art Tile.
The local family business was originally named Bahloo when Leslie Doolin founded the company in 1978. The name Bahloo, a reference to an aboriginal moon goddess, captured the spirit of the craft Doolin created. The name was changed to Topanga Art Tile to help give the company a sense of location, Doolin said.
Doolin, originally a painter by trade, started working with tile and then began designing her own. The business became a family affair when sons Matt and Paul started forming their own tile creations and joined full time. Matt said his joining the company was a natural choice.
“We were brought up in an artist’s family,” he said. “We always loved clay, all of us were good drawers, and as time goes by, you just naturally do what your family does.”
Topanga Art Tile didn’t start out creating massive public projects such as the mosaic at Schmoozie’s.
“We started out in the garage making tile for peanuts practically, for dirt cheap,” Matt said. “Now we are at a level to make a good living.”
From a small dream in the Topanga hills to a successful tile establishment, Matt said he credits the family’s success to its ability to create both traditional and artistic tile.
“We have a unique style,” he said. “Most of our tile tends to be naturalistic and realistic. However, our mosaics are a bit abstract with extremely bright colors.”
“Tile in general is not an art, but more of a craft,” Matt added. “We are trying to take it from a utilitarian product to pure art, with an expressive and aesthetic value.”
Like most art, tile requires a lot of practice and work. For each original tile, the Doolin family makes its own design, which is then pressed into the clay. Almost all of their work is done on porcelain. After pressing the tile, they hand paint the design. Next the work goes into the kiln, the oven used for firing the clay, where the tile is cooked at 2000 degrees. This portion of the process takes eight hours for firing and another eight for cooling. Installation is the longest part of the tiling process — a full bathroom design can take up to four weeks to install.
“You have to have a lot of patience with tile,” Matt said. “Things explode, warp, crack and colors change during firing.”
The Doolin family uses two techniques when designing its tile. The first is a raised-line design, a process in which cut-out spaces are filled with glaze to give it a three-dimensional look. The other is hand-painted imagery, where the tile is hand painted with an original design.
“A mold can be reproduced with the raised-line design,” Matt said. “But the painted technique is more one-of-a-kind.”
Topanga Art Tile makes everything from mirrors and tables to tiling for pools and fireplaces. Recently, the artists have been experimenting with sculpture and three-dimensional designs as well as architectural ceramics.
“We keep developing, and becoming more creative,” Matt said. “We just keep on striving to take it to a higher artistic level and break more boundaries with each project.”
Inspired by a trip to the Great Barrier Reef, Leslie originally marketed tiles with aquatic and marine themes. Two-thirds of the work is still marine life, but they have expanded to include more natural themes including birds, plants and flowers.
“Fish started us out,” Matt said. “We now have many more diversified, yet still natural, themes.”
The majority of works created at Topanga Art Tile are priced based on the square footage of tile, with plain color tile costing about $30 per square foot, and mosaic decoratives costing about $225 per square foot.
For large public projects such as Schmoozie’s at Disney’s California Adventure, the project rate can be up to $50,000.
“The great thing about public jobs is that everybody gets to enjoy your work,” Matt said. “It’s not just for the rich but for everyone.”
The family has acquired an international presence.
For works from private residences to public buildings, the Doolins have traveled the world to places such as Mexico, Japan, Australia and Thailand.
In spite of the business’s growth, Topanga Art Tile remains a small family business.
“Being in a family business has its benefits and pitfalls,” Matt said. “It is wonderful getting to do what you want to do creatively, but there are always those differences of opinion. The best part though is the trust and honesty. You don’t even have to think about it, it’s unquestionable.”
The Doolins said they plan to continue their artistic family business into the future.
“We are just happy to have found a niche to call our own,” Matt said. “We still do some of the traditional tile, but we figure we are just going to make our own original designs and hope people like it.”
09-22-2005
