b'BUSINESS Attracting young artisans to the craft of tileIn our March issue, NTCA Executive Director Bart Bettiga interviewed Lee Callewaert of Dragonfl y Tile & Stone Works in Grafton, Wis., and Joshua Nordstrom from Tierra Tile in Homer, Alaska, for his One-to-One story. Amidstallthewisdomsharedbythesestellarartisanswassome advice on recruiting young people into the trade, and how to emphasize the artistic aspects of tile setting to attract creative young people inter-ested in making enduring art with their work. Here are Callewaerts and Nordstroms suggestions and observations.Lesley Goddin, EditorBettiga: What advice would youmy work and in my discussions with give to small business owners oncustomers,suppliers,tradepart-how to recruit young people intoners, fellow installers, and potential thetradeandencouragethememployees.Weneedtolosethe to come work for them? On thatTileGuyperception/imageand samenote,youarebothartists.regainthehistoricreputationas How can we reach out to peopleartisans and craftspeople. The more withanartisticbackgroundtoweprojecttheprofessionalismof makethemawareoftheoppor- ourcraftanditsplaceasanarti-tunities in our industry and whatsan trade, the more we will attract toolsshouldwedeveloptotellyoungworkers.AndIseeevery that story? well-executedanddetail-oriented Callewaert: Iinstallation as art. It doesnt need thinkitsaboutto be the large artistic mosaic or cut yourmindset.Istone features. I teach my appren-think of our tradetices the importance of every detail as an artisan craftand the visual impact it has on any and project that ininstallation. 24 TileLetter | September 2020'