Company History

In 1984, Fired Earth was established to source and sell handmade tiles. Starting with just a handful of traditional terracotta floor tiles, and operating from a corner of a rented farmyard, sales soon took off.

By the summer of 1984 the Company decided to take on a small London showroom, and started to increase the range by the cautious addition of a few handmade glazed wall tiles. As sales continued to grow, so the Company’s search widened for beautiful and unusual tiles – sometimes buying rare and antique tiles at auction in order to study and reproduce the originals. Within 5 years the Company had become the UK’s leading retailer of up-market tiles, as well as a major buyer in 20 countries across the globe.

The Directors, however, perceiving the difficulty of maintaining the extraordinary growth, had already made plans to expand, thus in 1989 Fired Earth Tiles plc became fully listed on the stock exchange of the United Kingdom, and the first Fired Earth licensee showroom opened.

At that time unlike the jumble and clutter of most tile shops, Fired Earth displayed their products concisely and intelligently in a quality environment. Shops were established in good locations, alongside similar specialist retailers, and were fitted to a standard hitherto unseen in the tile industry.  The key was a distinctive branded image and a fully fitted “library” interior with sectioned floors and a layout table, where clients could both browse and experiment with a full range of samples.

Throughout the 1990’s several new Fired Earth showrooms were opened and the first non tile products introduced – including paints and tribal rugs with bathrooms in 1999 and kitchen furniture, produced by their sister company Grange, in 2004.

In July 2001, the Aga Foodservice Group announced the expansion of their retail operations with the acquisition of Fired Earth, well aware of the synergies between the Fired Earth product and the illustrious Aga.

Fired Earth now operates over 60 showrooms worldwide – our business is bigger but the philosophy remains the same.

Company Philosophy

The Fired Earth Philosophy is very simple - to offer craftsmanship, originality, creativity, authenticity and inspiration.

Our products are designed, selected and made with extraordinary care and attention to detail. With the environment in mind we are proud that the majority of our products are sourced from the UK and Europe, our paints are categorised as low VOC and our wood flooring and furniture products are all sourced from sustainable forests.



For more information please contact the Press Office

Laura James      
Tel: 01263 711588 or 07788 108560  Email: laurajames@mabelgray.com

Elizabeth of Mar
Tel: 01263 711588 or 07870 276375  Email: elizabethofmar@mabelgray.com