TileFest ’24: For the Love of Tile, hosted by TileWorks and The Tile Heritage Foundation, is held at The Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, PA, on May 18th and 19th, 2024. TileFest is an outdoor marketplace showcasing contemporary, vintage, and antique tiles from artisans from Alaska to Florida, live demonstrations, ceramic activities, and free tours of our working history museum. There are also delicious offerings from food trucks including Great Barn Brewery, Dharma Bums, and Bam Bam’s Bake Shop, and live music on Sunday by local bluegrass band Wood Flower.
Some of the returning artisans who have been participating in the show for decades include Sligo Creek, Luna Parc, David Ellison, Barbara Schmidt, Marcia Hovland, Gary Quirk Studios, One Acre Ceramics, River Horse Studio, and Eartha Handmade Tile. Whispering Hill Studio founder/owner Mandy Baker has attended all 24 TileFests. We are also excited to welcome all of our new vendors, including OYA Studio, Robyn Sue Miller Mosaics, and Crooked Curiosities.
Tile-adjacent exhibitions include Penn State Abington, showcasing students’ work created during an accredited college course taught at TileWorks on Historic Tile Making. Our youngest makers are a 4th-grade class from Mill Creek Elementary in the Central Bucks School District.
Local ceramist Paula Focazio will be offering Moravian tile-inspired henna tattoos. Tim Carder, master mold-maker at TileWorks, will display his tile birdhouses, and a Little Free Library inspired by Fonthill Castle. Traveling from its inaugural display at NCECA in Richmond, ‘Ashtrays: Class or Trash,’ curated by Peter Morgan, will be on display. There will be two walking tours of Broad Commons Park and Salem United Church of Christ, both of which feature Moravian tiles and mosaics.
New this year will be a cadre of artisan tile setters — graduates of the Artisans Revolution in Tile (A.R.T.) class held last June — demonstrating the precision and art of creating hand-shaped mosaics.
The Great Tile Throw Down
TileWorks is sponsoring our first interactive Tile Throwdown at TileFest ’24. This will be a maker station where anyone and everyone can make and leave a tile. There will be secret jurors, and prizes, including a grand prize for a free Booth at TileFest ’25. Game on.
Live Music: Wood Flower
Wood Flower is a Pennsylvania bluegrass band. They have been playing traditional bluegrass and clever originals since 2022. Their dual lead guitar driven brand of bluegrass has been attracting more and more fans with each show. They were recently named as one of the Top 10 Acts to See in Philadelphia.
