Hand painted decorative tiles and murals - a family tradition since 1919

For decorating kitchen backsplashes, bathroom walls, fireplace surrounds and table tops

In 1919, a group of Armenian ceramic artists from Turkey were invited to Jerusalem and commissioned to renovate the ceramic tiles covering the exterior walls of the Dome of the Rock. One of those ceramic artists was my grandfather, M. Karakashian, who together with his partner, established a pottery in Jerusalem in 1922. Today I hand paint my tiles and pottery in my studio in Jerusalem, at 3 The Greek Patriarchate Street in the Old City, using the same traditional methods he used. I hand paint a variety of tile murals and accent tiles with traditional Armenian designs like peacocks, birds, ornate floral patterns, trees and gazelles, which are used to decorate kitchen walls and backsplashes, bathroom walls, fireplaces, table tops, kitchen counter tops.

How to use hand painted decorative tiles in your kitchen

Hand painted tiles can look beautiful when used in a kitchen wall. You can use accents fitted in between tiles, or tile murals forming your center piece above your oven.

This is Dolores' hand painted backsplash tile. She chose my Peacock and pomegranate tree tile mural with yellow floral border tiles. The size is 30 x 24 inches.

This tile mural is a design of four peacocks in a pomegranate tree hand painted on twelve tiles. You can also have a tile mural which is made up of a repeating pattern.

Susan's hand painted tile backsplash uses the tulip and pomegranate repeating pattern, with running cobalt blue borders on the top and bopttom.

This is the hand painted tile used in this kitchen wall.

Blue and white floral tile

In the picture to the left, one client used the 18 x 18 inch blue and white floral design to create her tile backsplash layout.

Latest backsplash picture - Anna's kitchen, New Zealand

This backsplash uses the Peacocks of paradise tile mural, custom fitted on 4 x 5 tiles, and a strip of solid blue tiles on the bottom. With the surrounding border tiles, the total dimensions are 36 x 33 inches. A vibrant and colorful focal point in any kitchen.  "We love it! We get lots of very positive feedback from visitors", Anna, New Zealand. 

Press and testimonials on our hand painted decorative tile

New York Times, 1985 - "Against a cobalt blue background, a mandala-like phoenix in rust brown, pale blue, yellow, green and cream, flexes its wings until the tips nearly touch. Grazing amid long stemmed flowers, a gazelle looks up, perhaps to sniff the air. On one side of an enormous, muted-green and yellow "Tree of Life", a lion falls on a frightened gazelle: on the other, two other gazelles continue to feed serenely. However modest in size, each scene is complete, and thanks to precise design and understated color, meditatively alive..." - More from the article

Features of my hand painted tiles:

• Carefully designed and painted tiles with bright, vivid colors, made by years of experience
• Use for kitchen tile walls, backsplash tile, fireplaces, bathroom walls, table tops
• Unique and eye catching artistic tile designs from a different place and time
• Hand painted, glazed, and fired to last a life time
• For outdoor and indoor decorating
• Colors are sealed in permanently, they don't fade or wash away
• My studio is one of the last remaining places in the world where this Armenian ceramic tile art is still made with precision and care.
• Guaranteed delivery or your money back

Hand painted pottery

See my selection of hand painted pottery dishes and bowls

New! - Hand painted ceramic Seder plate

How is Armenian pottery painted? read and watch video about the process. Do you have an old peace of Armenian pottery and would like to know where it comes from and who made it? Read this explanation.

How to use this site to buy your tiles online

Use the menu on the left to browse tile categories and to choose your art tiles/themes, and add them to your shopping basket. You can then check out and pay using your credit card.

If you have any decorative tile questions, or need assistance with tile mural sizes or kitchen tile questions. please email us.

Hagop Karakashian
Jerusalem Pottery

Articles on Armenian ceramics, pottery and tile:

• What is Armenian ceramics?
• 5 ways to use tile backsplash murals for interior design

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