Sun, 22 Feb 2026 19:33:27 -0800EditMySiteWed, 28 Feb 2018 03:30:32 GMThttps://www.sporcktileart.com/blog/sporck-tileart-our-history-and-culture​Sporck Tileart; Our History and Culture
A lot of people ask us how Sporck Tileart came to be, how we got going, where our roots are from.
Our roots are Michigan roots and our roots go deep at that, traveling far down into the soil of Leelanau,
traveling east across the mighty Atlantic, and hailing to Norway, the heritage of our namesake.
Sporck Tileart made its beginning in 2001 by Leif Sporck. Leif was born into a life surrounded by
ceramics, his father a ceramic artist and instructor at the local college. Leif recalls playing with clay
and ceramic materials as early as he can remember, and he often reflects over old photographs from his
infancy and toddler years, playing with clay, making things with little, balled up fists, getting
immensely dirty in the clay as any child would love to do.
Leif grew up learning the techniques and methodology of pottery, clay, and ceramics from his father, a
renowned potter in the area and abroad. In 2001, a full grown adult with a college education and an
array of job skills, Leif went into business for himself making ceramic, artisan tiles. His goal was to
provide original art, affordable art, and versatile art for anyone who wanted to decorate their home and
not break the bank while doing it. Leif’s goal was also to make one-of-a-kind ceramic tile art that was
completely unique and unlike
any
other ceramic art out there. He has succeeded in both goals
tremendously.
Tiles and Ceramics that Customers
Love
Sporck Tileart combines an art of tile making that has been around for centuries while also using
modern-day equipment and tools in the process. Leif uses much of the same methods his father taught
him all those years ago, with his own improvements and modifications. As the years went by, Leif
expanded the business further and further, making more tiles, more designs, and more happy
customers.
2010 was a monumental year for the company as Sporck Tileart acquired their gallery in historic
Fishtown, Leland. Around that same time, Sporck Tileart passed the benchmark for over
five-hundred
individual and unique tile designs.
Sporck Tileart has sold tens of thousands of tiles since opening in 2001. Our tiles can be used in
backsplashes, hung on walls, used as hotplates, coasters, or mounted in frames and mosaics. Our tiles
are affordable, handmade, hand carved, glazed and painted. All of our tiles are our own unique,
original designs. We have hundreds of designs to pick from, but we also take on custom orders if a
customer has something particular in mind that they’d like to see carved into a tile.
Our Commitment to Our Art
Sporck Tileart has been featured in multiple news broadcasts and local newspapers and periodicals.
The galleries in Historic Fishtown in Leland, on M204 in Suttons Bay, and on N. St. Joseph St in
downtown Suttons Bay have become staple landmarks for Leelanau. Sporck Tileart is now an expected
and anticipated presence at art fairs and festivals across the state year-round.
Leif sees no limit to where he will take his business in the coming years. With close ties to Norway,
​
Leif has been traveling to the land of his heritage for inspiration. He will soon open a gallery there, and
the business will keep growing every year.
The team at Sporck Tileart is passionate about our art and our mission to bring that art to as many
people as possible. All of our tile designs, styles, glazes, and framing options can be found, purchased,
and shipped right here from our site with minimal shipping fees and no handling charges.
Our art speaks to the community, the heritage, the wildlife, the peace of mind and tranquility that is the
hallmark of both Michigan and Norway. Our tiles are paintings in the third dimension, and our
customers love them as we love them. The past seventeen years have been an adventure for Sporck
Tileart, and we’re even
more
interested in where the next seventeen will take us!]]>Thu, 01 Feb 2018 22:49:52 GMThttps://www.sporcktileart.com/blog/sporck-tileart-accent-tiles     Sporck Tileart Tiles Make for Great Backsplash Accents
 
 
    T hey say the focal point of any home is the kitchen.  The kitchen is the heart of a home, where the food is made, where the hustle and bustle of the house originates from.  Families are drawn to the kitchen, friends too.  The kitchen pulls people in and holds them close to its bosom, a heart indeed. 
 
    The kitchen is associated with warmth, with compassion, and with love.  It’s the comfort room, the best lit usually, and the room that always smells the greatest.  While many homes will have a “family room” the kitchen is the real family room.  Every man of the house takes pride in a well-built kitchen, and every woman loves a well-stocked larder.  Our kitchens are where we go for sustenance and fuel.  They are our comfort zones, our safe spots.  Our conversations start in the kitchen and grow outwards from there, the center of the warmth and pleasant euphoria that is the comfort of a cozy house.
 
    Maybe this is why we spend so much time working to create the best kitchen.  We stock our kitchens with the best supplies, the best kitchen tools, the best cutlery, cookware, etc.  We spend time and money to remodel our kitchens before we would paint our houses or do many other home improvement tasks.  The kitchens get the most attention.
 
    We also take an artistic interest in our kitchens, and that’s where Sporck Tileart comes in.  At Sporck Tileart, we make thousands of ceramic, artisan tiles that are absolutely unique.  There are no ceramic tiles out there like Sporck Tileart’s. 
 
 
    Using Sporck Tileart Tiles in a Kitchen Backsplash
 
    The strength of an artist is in his creativity and his ingenuity.  One of the most brilliant and creative applications of the hundreds of designs created by Sporck Tileart is to install these, one-of-a-kind beauties into a kitchen backsplash.  Why buy generic, run of the mill field tiles from Home Depot when you can build your backsplash with art? 
 
    A backsplash tile will be seen more than almost anything else in a kitchen.  It’s right there above the countertop, where you (and your guests) will be spending a lot of time.  The kitchen backsplash tile draws the eye and is a true accent to any kitchen, modern or traditional. 
 
    For a brilliant, unique, and artistic flair to any kitchen, we encourage you to consider ordering Sporck Tileart artisan tiles for your backsplash.  Rather than using a generic design downloaded off the internet, you can make your own backsplash design, methodically placing our beautiful tiles for maximum visibility.  You can custom-create and design a backsplash from our hundreds of different tiles, all available online.  Just some of our varieties include tiles that feature:

• Agriculture
• Amphibians
• Beach
• Birds
• Cats & Dogs
• Cherries
• Ferns
• Sleeping Bear Dunes
• Fish
• Flags
• Insects
• Lakes
• Landmarks
• Leaves
• Lighthouses
• Mammals
• Michigan
• Fossils
• Mollusks
• Mushrooms
• Nuts & Seeds
• Crustaceans
• Reptiles
• Pressed Plants
• Space
• Sports
• States
• Towns
• Trees
• Trivets
• Mermaids
• Vikings
• Tulips
• Wildflowers
• Winter
• Weather

​

    And that’s not even a full list of all the varieties we offer!  Plus, if you have something particular in mind, reach out to Sporck Tileart for a special order made just for you.
 
    Friends, our kitchens are in our hearts (and our stomachs!) so the next time you are considering a new backsplash, shop our extensive listings of tiles of all different styles, sizes, and compositions for a unique backsplash that will tell a story of your most important family room.

]]>Mon, 15 Jan 2018 16:18:27 GMThttps://www.sporcktileart.com/blog/new-blogLet’s Make 2018 About Art

2017 was a rough year for this old world. So was 2016. So was... well, the list goes on. At Sporck
Tileart, we persevere through all the nonsense and we just keep making tiles. This year we made a
resolution, and that was to make 2018 a year of art, a year of create.

​A wise man once said that “A culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by
artists.” Our mission this year, our boldest of resolutions in fact, is to make 2018 about art. We’re
going to turn a blind eye to the madness of our current socio-economic condition and focus wholly on
the joy of creating.We’re going to turn our backs on politics, on divisiveness, on all of the slander and
hate, and we are going to fill the world with the joy that comes from creating art.

And we encourage our followers and fans, family members and friends, to join us in this resolution.

2018; The Year of the Artist

This is our seventeenth year for Sporck Tileart, and we have long since exceeded our old benchmark of five-hundredindividual and unique tile designs. From backsplash tiles to bathroom tiles, fireplace
tiles, shower tiles, ceramic wall and floor tiles, we’ve made tiles to fit every need and purpose over the
last almost two decades. Mosaics, framed art, house numbers, plaques, family name signs, coats of
arms, custom art designs, countertop inlays, we’d almost like to say we’ve done it all, but “all” is an
infinite and paradox word in the mind of an artist.

In 2018, we are going to push the boundaries of what we’ve done and explore every avenue of creating
art. We will to travel to Norway to find inspiration for dozens more tile designs, inspiring ourselves
through experience and the visual amazement at the beauties that land has to offer. In 2018, we are
going to commit ourselves to our passion, our zeal for art.

We are going to heal the world with art.

Some think that a civilization lives and breathes through the artist. When a society’s art is flourishing,
that is the hallmark of a well-established civilization. When the art, and artists, are suffering and
sequestered, society suffers.

Our words will not fall on deaf ears when we say that our society is suffering right now. This is agreed
upon. Our resolution in this new year is to change all of that by making 2018 the year of create. We
want as many people as possible to enjoy our art this year as so many thousands of people across the
country and world have already done.

At Sporck Tileart, we want our art in every home in Leelanau and abroad, on mantelpieces, gracing
backsplashes, hung on walls, and propped on desks and writing tables. Let our art inspire you to make
2018 the year of create as it has inspired us to do the same. Let 2018 be the year we reconnect to the
spirituality that is art, the creative force of life, that all mankind can together share!]]>