The Motawi Boneyard
What is the Boneyard?
Down the hall from our gallery of first-quality tiles is the Motawi Boneyard, where we sell second-quality, overrun, discontinued or just plain weird tile at discounted prices.
What do you sell in there?
- Art tile: 25% or more off retail price. Exact prices vary by tile size and phases of the moon.
- Project leftovers (decorative and field): $4 per pound (more than 80% off retail price).
We are always adding new stock to the Boneyard, so it looks different from week to week.
Follow us on social media for “Boneyard alerts” featuring some of the latest tiles to make their way to the Boneyard.
- Facebook: @MotawiTileworks
- Instagram: @motawi_tileworks
- Twitter: @motawitileworks
When can I visit the Boneyard?
The Boneyard is open year-round during regular gallery hours:
Tuesday–Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Motawi Tileworks
170 Enterprise Dr.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Please note: Boneyard tiles are available in-store only (not online). All Boneyard tiles are marked on the back with our Boneyard stamp. Boneyard tiles are second-quality, therefore we cannot guarantee an exact match to other or future tile purchases. Boneyard purchases are final sale and cannot be returned or exchanged. Motawi design services are not available for Boneyard purchases.
We hope to see you in the Boneyard soon!
What makes a tile “second-quality?”
Crawling:
You can see the clay underneath the glaze. This happens when the glaze is too thick, or a contaminant keeps it from adhering properly. The glaze sticks to itself instead of to the tile.
Wrong color:
In some cases, there was a glaze color drip or mix-up. (Oops! It can be tough to tell the glazes apart before they are fired in the kiln.) In other cases, a glaze color’s range varies beyond what we consider acceptable for first-quality tile.
All Boneyard tiles are marked on the back with our Boneyard stamp.
Bleeding:
Glaze colors get out of line (literally), "bleeding" over the barriers in the clay.
Color breaking:
Not enough color! The glaze got too thin in spots.
Overrun:
Nothing technically wrong here. We just made too many!