Handcraft Tile was founded in 1926. In the last hundred years there have been six owners.
1926 — 19??:Les Austin, Florence Austin, Larry Bruns (Founders)*19?? — 1960:Lloyd Janic, Bert Altman, & Abe DeVries1960 — 1997:Clay Scott1997 — 2007:Shirley Dinkins, Frank Patitucci2007 — 2016:Malibu Ceramics Works2016 — 2021:Shirley Dinkins, Frank Patitucci2021 — present:Omar Espinosa
*Handcraft Tile paused operations during World War II.
The original name of Handcraft Tile was San Jose Tile. The business was operated out of a small industrial building in central San Jose, California, a site near San Jose State College today. A year later, the name was changed to Handcraft Tile.
In 1931 the business was moved to a building in Milpitas, California, on Oakland Road, now Main Street in Milpitas. The company operated out of this facility until 2004 when it was moved by Dinkins/Patitucci a couple of miles away to a newer facility on Yosemite Drive in Milpitas. In 2007, the company was sold to Malibu Ceramic Works and moved to Long Beach, California, where it operated until 2016 when ownership reverted to Dinkins/Patitucci, who set up shop in Livermore, California. In 2021, Handcraft Tile was sold to Omar Espinosa of Healdsburg, California. Handcraft Tile company is currently in transition, with Espinosa doing custom tile orders. Importantly, Espinosa has the old historic molds and glaze formulas.
Photos
Marks
References
Tile Heritage Foundation
Joe Taylor and Sheila Menzies, Founders
www.tileheritage.org
Phone: 707-431-8453
American Art Tile: 1876-1941. Norman Karlson describes and pictures tiles manufactured by over 150 American tile companies, including Handcraft Tile, page 150.
California Tile, The Golden Era 1910-1940, Acme to Handcraft, by The California Heritage Museum, Joseph A. Taylor, Editor, 2003. A Shiffer Book, Shiffer Publishing Ltd., pages 207-217.