Ann Sacks Tile & Stone

How do you want your home to feel?

It’s the question that lies at the very heart of what we do. We’ve asked it of everyone we’ve ever worked with — and the answer has rarely been the same.

And because everyone’s idea of how home feels is different, we as a company are continually inspired to embrace new ideas, to explore the relationship of tile, stone and plumbing in imaginative and unexpected ways. And while we are always looking forward to what’s next, our past is firmly rooted in the traditional, so we’ll never forget the value of simple, appropriate design done perfectly well.

It is our belief that the process of creating beautiful design will always be a collaborative one, and the only way to get to far more interesting places is by going together.

So let’s have some ideas. Let’s be daring. Let’s be different. Let’s find things that haven’t been seen anywhere.

Let’s discover how home feels.

In 1980, while shopping for a wedding dress, Ann Sacks discovers a box of Mexican Talavera tiles being sold as trivets. These tiles inspire her to start her own company. Later that year, she opens her first showroom. It is located in the living room of her Portland bungalow. Ann quickly outgrew this intimate showcase, and in 1981, she opened her first store to market assorted Mexican tiles from regional artisan factories.

Ann quickly learned that the enormously popular demand for tile was not limited to hand-glazed Mexican tiles. One early request was to match tiles to Kohler plumbing products. Working with local ceramists, Sacks developed a line of color tiles, and by 1983, offered handmade tiles in 100 colors that could be matched to any existing product or environment. The success of this program allowed the company to subsequently open showrooms in Seattle and Vancouver.

By the mid and late eighties, Ann Sacks broadened the collection to include other architectural surfacing materials, primarily limestone, marble, and granite skins, to coordinate with tile collections. Working with suppliers in Italy, the company began to address a more modern aesthetic. During this time the partnership with Kohler, the Wisconsin-based, family-owned plumbing manufacturer, also continued. It was a perfect match for the two companies, as they both approach product design as an expression of style and lifestyle. This collaboration ultimately leads Kohler to purchase ANN SACKS in late 1989.

Throughout the nineties the company continues to expand, opening new showrooms across the country. In 1996, the company is the first to market metal tiles, a modern interpretation of a classic form. Then, in early 1999, ANN SACKS introduces their plumbing collections. This is a different direction and dimension, one that fulfills the company’s mission to approach design programmatically.

This mission to introduce new and inspiring products to the category continues as showrooms across the country work as galleries for material innovations in glass and metal tiles, along with more traditional antique terra cotta and limestone. The company opens its own manufacturing facility in the Pacific Northwest, more new showrooms open each year, and has suppliers in over 10 countries.