Hand Painted Tiles - Unique Painted Ceramic Tiles from Jerusalem
Balian painted tiles are made and fired by hand in Jerusalem, and have been since 1922. Every one of our painted tiles is drawn and coloured by an artist rather than printed, so the glaze is fired into the ceramic and will not fade, chip off or wear away the way surface tile paint does. Browse our hand painted tiles below for kitchens, bathrooms, backsplashes, fireplaces, stair risers, swimming pools and house numbers, shipped door to door across the USA.
Behind every Balian tile is a century of tradition and endless possibilities for transforming your home or house. Hand painted tiles can be used to create stunning backsplashes, accent walls, stair risers, and fireplace surrounds, bringing vibrant color and capturing intricate motifs that reflect your personal style. Our collection features popular styles such as Mexican Talavera, Mediterranean patterns, and detailed botanical or geometric motifs, each designed to enhance and highlight the artistry of your space.
Made from premium Italian and Spanish white clay, fired at temperatures above 1000°C, and painted with colorful, lead-free European glazes, every tile is created through a meticulous process using time-honored techniques. This not only supports small-scale artisans and ethical production, but also ensures that each piece is unique and reflects the vision and artistry of its maker. Quality ceramic and terracotta tiles are long-lasting, resistant to fading and peeling, and ideal for high-traffic or moist areas like showers. When selecting hand painted tiles, choose colors and patterns that match your home's aesthetic for a cohesive and inviting look. Visit us to browse our hand-painted tiles.
Discover Our Collection of Hand-Painted Tiles
Discover endless possibilities in color and motifs with our hand painted tiles collection—choose from vibrant hues, intricate patterns, and the freedom to create or replicate custom designs for your space. Our Contemporary Handpainted Collection features everything from soft, organic lines to bold patterns and fresh colorways, offering a wide variety of aesthetic choices for kitchens, bathrooms, and beyond.
Explore global inspirations: Moroccan and Moorish tiles showcase intricate geometric patterns and bold motifs, perfect for creating a carpet-like look on floors or accent walls. Mexican Talavera tiles are celebrated for their vibrant colors and colonial motifs, making them ideal for backsplashes and countertops. Delft Style tiles traditionally feature blue-on-white designs with floral, bird, or scenic landscape motifs, adding timeless elegance to any setting.
We have something for every space, style, and imagination. Here’s a glimpse of our most-loved collections:
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Waterline Pool Tiles: Sun-safe and elegant, perfect for pools and fountains.
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Modular Decorative Tiles: Mix and match patterns for walls or floors.
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Classic style with hand-painted floral or wave details.
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Accent Tiles: Small touches that brighten any space.
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Heat-resistant and made to stand out.
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Timeless, simple, and stylish.
Our hand painted tiles feature a variety of motifs, from classic floral and bird designs to geometric patterns, allowing you to replicate these patterns across larger surfaces for a cohesive and unified look.
Aquatic Off White
Modular Decorative Tiles
15x15 & 20x20 cm decorative hand-painted tiles
These hand painted tiles capture a variety of motifs—from classic florals to intricate birds—allowing you to express your personal vision and style in any space.
Single Accent Tiles
15x15 & 20x20 cm decorative hand-painted tiles
Each subway border tile is carefully crafted through a step-by-step process—starting with hand-painting the design, adding color, and baking the tile in the kiln to set the paint for lasting durability. You can use these hand painted tiles to frame, accentuate, or define tiled areas, adding a unique artisanal touch to your space.
Subway Tile Borders
15x7.5 , 15x5 and 20x10 cm Subway Border Tiles
Black & White Tiles
Our black & white hand painted tiles feature striking motifs such as geometric patterns, florals, and traditional symbols, offering a timeless palette for both modern and classic interiors. The way these tiles are used on stair risers allows you to create bold, graphic statements—each motif can be repeated or mixed for a custom look that draws the eye and enhances architectural details.
Swimming Waterline Pool Tiles
Our hand painted tiles are renowned for their vibrant color, achieved through meticulous layering and traditional glazing techniques. These artistic tiles are not only visually striking but also highly durable, making them ideal for high-moisture environments such as swimming pool waterlines. The rich color remains vivid and beautiful even with constant exposure to water, ensuring your pool area stands out with lasting elegance.
Accent Tiles
Accent tiles are a simple way to add personality and visual interest to your home. The process of creating hand painted accent tiles involves carefully sketching designs, mixing custom colors, and baking the tiles in the kiln to set the paint, ensuring each piece is both durable and unique. This way, you can personalize any space—whether it’s a kitchen backsplash, bathroom wall, or fireplace surround—with a distinctive artistic touch.
Subway Tiles
Our hand painted tiles include classic subway tiles, celebrated for their timeless appeal and versatility. The vibrant color options available allow you to create anything from subtle, monochromatic looks to bold, artistic statements. The way you arrange subway tiles—whether in a traditional brick pattern, herringbone, or stacked layout—lets you achieve a variety of design effects, making them perfect for kitchen backsplashes, bathroom walls, or accent features.
Painted Ceramic Tiles Made the Traditional Way
Our painted ceramic tiles start as premium Italian and Spanish white clay. Each tile is hand drawn in cobalt oxide, hand coloured with lead free European glazes and fired above 1000C, so the pattern lives inside the glaze rather than on top of it. That is the difference between genuine painted tiles and a printed or decal tile: ours cannot scratch off, and the colour is as strong in twenty years as on the day it left the kiln.
Ceramic Painted Tiles for Kitchens, Bathrooms and Pools
Because they are fired, our ceramic painted tiles are frost resistant, waterproof and safe for wet and high traffic areas. Customers across the USA use them as kitchen backsplashes, bathroom and shower walls, fireplace surrounds, stair risers, swimming pool waterlines, garden benches and house number plaques. Borders, corners and full ceramic tile murals are available to match every pattern.
Painted Tiles or Painting Over Your Existing Tile?
Many people searching for painted tiles are weighing up tile paint for a quick refresh. Painting over existing tile with epoxy or chalk paint is cheap, but the finish sits on the surface, and in a shower or behind a hob it usually chips and yellows within a couple of years. A hand painted tile is decorated before firing, so the design is permanent. If you want a change that lasts a lifetime rather than a season, buy painted tiles rather than paint the tiles you already have.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are standard ceramic hand painted tiles?
Our standard ceramic hand painted tiles are crafted from high-quality white clay and individually decorated by skilled artisans using traditional techniques. Each tile is hand painted with mineral-based pigments and then kiln-fired to ensure the colors are permanently fused into the glaze, making them durable, fade-resistant, and suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. Because every tile is painted by hand, slight variations in color and pattern are natural and add to the unique character of each piece.
Do you offer porcelain tiles?
Yes, in addition to our classic ceramic tiles, we also offer a range of hand painted porcelain tiles. Porcelain is a denser and less porous material than standard ceramic, making it highly resistant to moisture, stains, and heavy foot traffic. Our porcelain tiles are ideal for demanding applications such as kitchen floors, outdoor terraces, and high-humidity environments like bathrooms and showers. They are available in a variety of sizes and designs, all hand painted to the same high standard as our ceramic range.
Can I order custom sizes and patterns?
Absolutely! We specialize in creating bespoke hand painted tiles tailored to your exact requirements. Whether you need a non-standard tile size, a unique color palette, or a completely original pattern designed to complement your space, our artisans can bring your vision to life. Custom orders are welcome for both residential and commercial projects, including feature walls, murals, pool surrounds, and more. Please get in touch with our team to discuss your ideas, and we will provide a quote based on your specifications.
Do you ship hand painted tiles to the United States?
Yes, we ship our hand painted tiles worldwide, including to all states across the United States. We work with trusted international freight and courier services to ensure your tiles arrive safely and in a timely manner. Once your order is placed and confirmed, our team will carefully pack your tiles and arrange shipment, providing you with tracking information so you can follow your delivery every step of the way.
How much does shipping to the US cost?
Shipping costs to the United States depend on the total number of tiles ordered and the overall weight of the shipment. Tiles are heavy and fragile goods, and we take great care in selecting appropriate packaging and freight solutions for each order. As a general rule, larger orders benefit from more favorable per-tile shipping rates. We will always calculate the exact shipping cost for your specific order and present it to you clearly before you confirm your purchase, so there are no surprises.
Are the tiles insured during shipping, and what if some arrive broken?
All our tile shipments are fully insured for their declared value during transit. In the unlikely event that tiles arrive damaged, please inspect your delivery carefully and report any breakages to us within 48 hours of receipt. Claims made after this window cannot be accepted, so it is important to open and check your boxes promptly upon delivery. We invest considerable care into our packaging — each tile is individually wrapped and cushioned to withstand the rigors of international shipping — which is why breakage is extremely rare and we receive very few replacement requests for hand painted tiles. Should a breakage occur, we will work quickly to resolve the matter and arrange replacements as needed.
Can painted tiles be used in a shower or on the floor?
Yes. Our painted tiles are fired ceramic, so they are waterproof and suitable for shower walls, splashbacks and swimming pools. For floors we recommend using them as decorative inserts, borders or stair risers rather than as a full floor surface, because a glazed decorative tile is softer than a purpose made floor tile.
Will hand painted tiles fade or chip?
No. The colour is fired into the glaze at over 1000C rather than painted onto the surface afterwards, so painted tiles from Balian will not fade in sunlight, peel or wear away with cleaning. Small variations in tone between tiles are a normal part of hand painting and are not a defect.
What is the difference between painted tiles and printed tiles?
Printed or decal tiles are produced by machine, so every tile is identical and the image is applied as a transfer. Our painted tiles are drawn and coloured by hand by an artist in our Jerusalem workshop, which means slight brush variations, richer colour depth and a tile that is genuinely one of a kind.
Why People Love Balian Armenian Ceramics
Here’s why:
1. Handmade with care, never mass-produced.
2. Committed to sustainable materials and lead-free glazes.
3. Over 100 years of heritage and craftsmanship.
4. Worldwide shipping and custom bespoke projects.
5. Secure packaging to ensure your tiles arrive safely.
Explore our hand-painted tiles today and discover how a simple tile can completely change the feel of your space.
Custom Orders & Design Options
Our primary inspiration comes from the art of world famous tile muralist Marie Balian and Mediterranean art, featuring stunning natural scenes and intricate geometric patterns.
People often tell us that our tiles make their homes “feel warmer.”
That’s what handcrafting does; it carries the spirit of the artist straight into your space.
Got something special in mind? We love custom projects.
