Traditions In Tile: An Atlantan Tradition in Excellence

Every so often, we meet a company that is so well-regarded, so good at what they do that we want to learn more.  
Traditions In Tile is one of these companies. 
 

The Beginning
Traditions in Tile and Stone was founded in Atlanta in 1936.  The original name was "Southeastern Tile and Marble",  which was a ceramic tile contracting firm owned by Osval Sizemore. Sizemore is the Great-Grandfather of the  3^rd and 4^th generation of family who now own and operate Traditions in Tile. 

Mr. Sizemore saw a need for a wholesale distributor to stock more colors and shapes beyond the two colors of black and white.  So the company stocked products and partnered in growth as a distributor of Florida Tile and American Olean.
As showrooms became a new concept in the early 80’s, Tile Contractors Supply looked for manufacturers with higher end tile lines, thus the additional name Traditions in Tile and Stone was created and is still used today.   

Growth Spurt
We have grown from one location in Southeast Atlanta to one of the largest distributors of tile, stone and glass in the Southeast.  We have award winning showrooms from Nashville, TN to Jacksonville, FL as well as Atlanta and the surrounding areas.  We also service dealers all over the Southeast with select products and premium service.
Traditions in Tile and Stone is still a family owned and operated business and our mission is simple.  We provide quality products from around the world in tandem with exceptional customer service.  
And we don't just sell tile, we help their customers design their tile projects! Our showroom designers work alongside the trade for support and also help their clients design in any size project.   

What's Trending in Tile?
We’re really excited about a new wood look porcelain that is just coming over from Italy. It's called Scrapwood.

We should have that here in the next few weeks and think it’s going to be a really hot line. Scrapwood is a porcelain stoneware interpretation of the genuine feel of reused wood, currently very much in fashion because it evokes a past lived to the full, rich in emotional content. Six different surface structures that combine attractively: planed, aged, rough-sawn, brushed, ribbed and natural. The result is an amazing emotional charge.

What Does Atlanta Like?
Historically, Atlanta has been known to stay fairly traditional with their flooring choices and hasn't always been big on tile consumption. Instead, hardwood has taken the lead on square footage in the residential sector. 
However, with different manufacturers of hardwood porcelains in our product offering, we are seeing more acceptance and requests by the homeowner for porcelains and stones in kitchens and main living areas.  Porcelains don’t require future maintenance from wear and we do sell many green-certified materials which is also a request in our showrooms.
One last word on tastes…designing with our products is so much more of an art today.  As in the 80’s, selection was somewhat limited, and it was hard to convince a client to do something other than 4×4 on their backsplash. Today, clients want to do a “unique” design in their home and are much more open to do so.  
Tile design is a lot of fun – hard to learn from the beginning – but it can be a very rewarding career.  Our designers have to learn a lot. They all do a wonderful job explaining function, proper product application and design to everyone who walks in the door.