Since 2004, the mission of Emu Tile has been to produce beautiful, durable art tile by hand. 

  This small but mighty studio has just two employees:

Emily M. Ulm is the full-time tile designer and maker.  She studied ceramics and sculpture at the University of Akron (BFA, Sculpture, 2003).  After graduation, she toyed with the idea of going into art education, then surprised friends and family by announcing her intention to start an art tile company.   As a career path, it appealed to her love of nature, passion for craft and interest in home improvement.  When she married Darrell and changed her last name from Wilson to Ulm, her initials became E.M.U., which is how the business got the name "Emu Tile."  Her husband never doubted the company would be a success and became co-owner.

Darrell R.Ulm (DRU) helps out when he has time.  He built and maintains the Emu Tile website using the open source content management system, Drupal.  In addition, he has been known to photograph tiles, fix kilns, lift heavy things and clean the studio.  Both creative and practical, he took classes in photography, filmmaking and painting as well as Computer Science in college.  

When Emily and Darrell are not working, they enjoy spending time outdoors, listening to old music, and hanging out with their delightfully cranky pet cat.