Creating the Extraordinary - with Vanessa Becking and Josiah Lilly
We are welcoming 2020 with an exclusive interview with
Famosa’s founders Vanessa Becking and Josiah Lilly.
Read the full interview below.
How would you describe Famosa and what is the type of customers it serves?
Josiah: Famosa is a tile and stone showroom focused on unique materials and educating our clients. Designers, contractors and architects are our primary clientele.
Vanessa: Famosa is a boutique tile and stone experience offering ready-made options as well as bespoke creations to make any project truly one of a kind. While our main client base is Trade Professionals – Designers, Architects, Builders – we also work with savvy homeowners to create their dream homes.
What challenges do you face in providing great products and services to customers?
Josiah: Helping clients understand the value that Famosa creates vs other tile showrooms.
Vanessa: Educating both homeowners and trade professionals on their tile and stone choices. The internet brings so much information at the click of a button, but it also creates a lot of confusion and conflicting info regarding the use of hard surfaces. It’s important to determine the client’s lifestyle and expectations in order to recommend the best options for their project and an impersonal Google search just doesn’t cover all the nuance of everyday life.
What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Josiah: Understanding our clients needs and making sure we make their vision become a reality.
Vanessa: We set ourselves apart from other sources by traveling the globe to showcase cutting edge trends in our industry and by creating strong relationships with our clients working hand in hand on their project from the design phase to installation.
What are the latest style and design trends in tile these days
Josiah: Porcelain slabs have been the biggest design trends over the last few years. Also large format tiles continue to grow in popularity.
Vanessa: We’ve seen a shift from blah beige to clients not being afraid to be bold with color. Textured finishes and dimensional tiles emerged a few years ago and are still a top choice. Exceptional high-definition printing technology has launched wood and stone look porcelain options from “yuck, no!” to “I can’t believe that’s not real marble!”.
What would you consider an absolute classic in tile design?
Josiah: White tile on a running bond will always be a timeless design.
Vanessa: Natural materials will always be a timeless design choice. You really can’t go wrong with Mother Nature’s artwork!
What’s the most frequent question or concern costumers have when choosing a tile?
Josiah: Cost of the product is always a question.
Vanessa: Of course, budget is typically a concern for most clients however questions on durability and maintenance are also on top of the list. In this age instant gratification, “When will it be ready?” is also a common question.
There are many art tile makers in the marketplace. How do you select your vendors/collaborators?
Josiah: We try and select vendors with unique products while making sure we have all the necessary sectors of the market covered.
Vanessa: We strive to bring high-quality and unique materials to our market. It’s important that we partner with factories and artisans that not only share our vision design wise, but that provide consistent results and quality in their finished product. As a trusted leader in our industry, Famosa gets called on by numerous vendors but only about 15% of them meet our standards. Famosa stands by all the materials that we offer and choosing the right vendors is a huge part of that confidence.
