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What are you up to? For my latest
series of tiles, I am collecting ceramic fish
tails and drawing mermaids on them. This
stage when I play with new ideas and
make collages is my favorite. That’s how I
started StoryTiles: in my attic, surrounded
by sketches and cuttings. Now, five years
later, I’m running a company with four
employees, and we’re selling tiles to 200
stores around the world.How did you come up with the
idea of adding new images to
traditional Old Dutch tiles? When
I was studying art, I was really into
making ceramics and collages. And then
my grandmother, an antiques collector,
visited me in my graduation year,
bringing me a box of Old Dutch tiles.
I thought: What if I combine that old
traditional image with something new?
The first tile I made had a picture of a
goat. With ceramic paper, I baked a
modern boy next to it in the glaze,
making it look like he was taking the
old-fashioned goat for a walk. It became
a story within a story.Did you instantly know it was a
recipe for success? Yes, it definitely felt
like a ‘Eureka!’ moment. I knew that there
was a great demand for small affordable
artworks. As antique Dutch tiles such as
those my grandmother gave me can cost
€3,000 each, I sought out a traditional tile
baker to bake new ones. This way my
product remains affordable and I can focus
completely on the design. I see the picture
on an old tile and ideas instantly start to
bubble up. I have a huge image bank in
my head. And of course also in real life, as
clippings and digitally.Do you miss baking yourself?
Sometimes, but the production volume is
too high to do it all myself. I have to come
up with a new collection every six months.
But something new has developed: thanks
to the company’s success, I’ve been
receiving invitations to collaborate with
other parties: Flow Magazine, and the
National History Museum in London, which
gave me access to its archive of fish
images. I get ideas for tiles that I would
never have thought of otherwise. >32 Designer of Old Dutch tiles Lives in Bussum,
the Netherlands, with her partner and baby daughter
Storytiles.nlMarga van Oers
‘I collect loads of
clippings, drawers
and drawers full’‘THANKS TO THE
COMPANY’S SUCCESS,
I’VE BEEN RECEIVING
INVITATIONS TO
COLLABORATE WITH
OTHER PARTIES’