ARTISTRY

Let the inspired artisans at Lea Nigel Studios help you incorporate authentic handmade tile into your home.

Looking for beautiful, unique handcrafted tile

for your kitchen backsplash, bathroom, mudroom, entryway, fireplace, laundry room— really any area of your home where you might want tile? Check out Lea Nigel Studios; they just might fit the bill. The two artisans behind the studio, Andrea Lea and James Nigel, want to share their love of clay with people drawn to their work, and love to create interior designs with handmade tile for homes and businesses.

IN THE BEGINNING

James and Andrea met at university in 2004, while both were studying ceramics. They always had as a goal to establish their own ceramics studio, and they love creating functional pottery. James spent some time working at a historic Michigan tile manufacturer in 2005, where he was inspired by the tile-making process. The pair began discussing the idea of creating a tile studio of their own and put the idea in motion in 2017.

James set up the studio space, and Andrea began working on the designs for the tiles. James creates all of Lea Nigel’s handmade cedar and oak frames and the molds they use to press their tiles. Andrea is the primary designer and glazes most of the address numbers and art tiles. Both work on creating the larger orders for home installation, and they both hand press and hand paint the tiles to order.

INSPIRATIONS

Andrea is inspired by their natural surroundings and the beauty of northern Michigan. Their studio is on almost 10 wooded acres just outside the boundary of the Manistee National Forest. The pair came across a complete-gut rehab property back in 2014, and they’ve been fixing it up for their studio as well as their family of five ever since.

Another inspiration? “James and I are really interested in the difference a tile that has truly been made by hand presents versus the handmade tile created in a factory or larger tile manufacturer,” says Andrea. “No heavy machines, no industrial processes; we’re not a factory; we’re a tile art studio. Each project is very client centered; it is a one-of-a-kind piece of art.”

TILE YOUR HOME

To Andrea, “Cottage decoration should exude character, without feeling overly complex, and I believe our authentic handcrafted tile art can bring a contemporary energy to traditional cottage design.” In addition, their geometric tile fits a Mid Century Modern style, and their specialty shape tiles, like the Petite or Grand Cairo, can work with this vintage style very well too. “We offer a great variety of geometric shapes: diamonds, hexagons, fish scales and arabesque,” she says. Plus their classic Craftsman style rectangles can be added to any design as a simple way to incorporate handmade tile. “When considering a home renovation or new construction,” Andrea suggests, “we have a beautiful array of artisan glaze hues … and we can help you find any color to match your design.”

Lea Nigel also creates address numbers and art tiles, framed or unframed, that you can add to your front porch or any interior space. “Our address numbers and art tiles can be a fabulous gift idea for housewarming, birthday or wedding occasions,” Andrea offers. They make various art tile designs featuring northern Michigan iconography too, including the loon, the morel mushroom, a trout lily, a crocus etc. Andrea describes one of the studio’s latest projects: “We’re currently working on a 77-square-foot order for a Craftsman bungalow kitchen counter-to-ceiling backsplash, and we’re extremely excited to see all the tile installed!”

The inspired artisans at Lea Nigel Studios would love to help you incorporate authentic Michigan-made tile into your home.

[TOP LEFT] Tiled backsplash by Lea Nigel Studios, created for an engineer and data scientist couple who live north of Pittsburgh. [ABOVE: BOTTOM LEFT] This pool house bar façade features about 35 square feet of Lea Nigel’s 3x6 inch “Scallop Subway” tile wearing Blue Rutile. [ABOVE: RIGHT] “This 5x5 inch ‘Swan’ art tile was inspired by the swans on our northern Michigan lakes,” says Andrea. “I was interested in the story of an invasive species here, the mute swan … driving out native trumpeter swans.” [OPPOSITE: LEFT] “Our ‘Round Lake’ field tile composition represents a lake I call home. The tile sizes you see are 4x8, 4x4, 1x6 and 1x2 inch Craftsman style rectangles. The glazes are Light Green Shino, Aqua, Smoke and True Celadon.” [OPPOSITE: RIGHT] These 3x3 inch “Petite Scallop” tiles are decked out in Cocoa, Sepia, Oolong, Sage, Sunshine and Rainforest.