Earlier this year Nawal Motawi, founder and owner of Motawi Tileworks in Ann Arbor Michigan was selected as the recipient of the Woman Owned Small Business Award presented by the Michigan Small Business Development Center. “Nawal Motawi founded Motawi Tileworks more than 20 years ago. A University of Michigan art school graduate with a restless spirit and an interest in applied arts, Nawal moved to Detroit to learn tilemaking at Detroit’s storied Pewabic Pottery. She returned to Ann Arbor after a few years and began making her own tiles in a garage studio and selling them from a stand she rented at the local farmers’ market.
Today, Nawal is still designing and making tiles in Ann Arbor. Her companies, Motawi Tileworks and Rovin Ceramics, employ more than 30 people. Her company utilizes Toyota-Style Production and practices an intentional workplace culture.
Recently, Motawi tiles have been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Dwell Magazine.” – motawi.com
Motawi Tileworks produces art based tile as well as installation tile. The craftsmanship and mission of this company truly shows through the quality of their work. We are so proud to have this woman owned small business represent the State of Michigan and set such a great example for other small business owners! Just take a look at just some of the examples of their work below. All pictures are credited to motawi.com. To take a video tour of their factory, click here!