Motawi Tileworks: New Decorative Tile from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
Motawi Tileworks, founded and owned by Stamps alumna Nawal Motawi (BFA 1988), has announced the release of its May tile, 4×8 Coonley Playhouse.
In 1912, Avery Coonley commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design the Avery Coonley Playhouse in Riverside, Illinois as a place for his wife to educate neighborhood children in the Froebel kindergarten method. Wright themed his extensive use of art glass in the Playhouse to appeal to the children.
The art glass window designs, composed of bold geometry — circles and squares — in primary colors, appear to be influenced by Wright’s affection for a parade. This decorative tile is an adaptation of one of the school’s many art glass windows.