Most tile stores feel like tile stores. Fluorescent lights. Catalog binders. A salesperson who steers you toward whatever they have too much of in the back.
Famosa Tile was designed to be the opposite of all of that.
“I always wanted to create the anti-tile store,” says Josiah Lilly, the founder of Famosa Tile and the visionary behind one of Orange County’s most respected stone and tile businesses. “I wanted it to be more like an art gallery. An inspirational space. A place you actually want to spend time in.”
For eighteen years, Famosa has helped designers and homeowners discover extraordinary materials in an environment designed to inspire. The full story is in the Journal.
Why Famosa Tile Exists: The Gap Nobody Else Was Filling
Josiah didn’t start Famosa Tile to grow his empire. He started it because he was frustrated.
After 15-plus years running Epic Ceramic & Stone — his luxury stone and tile fabrication company — Josiah kept running into the same problem. The materials his clients wanted were either out of their budgets, discontinued, or simply unavailable from the suppliers he could access. He knew he could solve that problem better than anyone else. So he did.
“I thought I could do a better job creating a supply source that would better fit the needs of our clients,” he says simply. “That’s why I went down this path.”
The first Famosa showroom opened in 2007. The current Costa Mesa location — the only Famosa showroom — has been the brand’s home for the past 14 years. In that time, it has grown into something far larger than a supply solution for Epic clients: it is its own destination, its own brand, its own community.
The Showroom Experience: A Fully Functioning Inspiration Space
Everything about the Famosa showroom in Costa Mesa was designed personally by Josiah. Every environment. Every vignette. Every detail.
The kitchen works. The bar works — beer on tap. The tubs work. The showers function. This is not a showroom where materials are propped against a wall with a price tag. This is a fully operating set of environments, designed so that designers and their clients can see exactly how these materials live — how they look in context, how light moves across them, how they feel underfoot.
“I want to be a fully functioning environment so they can see how materials would actually live. I want to inspire them — not just show them what a material looks like on its own, but what it could make their home become.”
Walking into Famosa for the first time, Josiah says, he wants every visitor to be inspired. Not sold. Inspired.
The Team Behind the Experience: Vanessa, Angela, and 18 Years of Expertise
Famosa has always been about relationships — and the two most important relationships in the showroom are the ones Josiah has built with his team.
Vanessa, Josiah’s business partner and the day-to-day leader of Famosa, came into the brand with a background that Josiah didn’t have: deep experience in tile and stone sales. He had known her as a sales representative for tile lines he worked with through Epic. When the time came to staff the Famosa showroom, she was his first call.
“I knew I was good at the vision and putting it together,” he explains, “but I had no experience running a tile store. Vanessa was an incredible salesperson at another local stone and tile store. I reached out, brought her on, and probably a year into working together, I offered her the opportunity to become a partner.”
Alongside Vanessa, Angela — who has been with the Famosa team for ten years — is the other pillar of the designer relationship side of the business. Between the two of them, Famosa’s most loyal design clients have consistent, trusted contacts who know them, know their projects, and know their taste.
Not Bound by a Catalog: What You’ll Find at Famosa That You Won’t Find Anywhere Else in Orange County
Most tile showrooms carry what their parent company or buying group tells them to carry. Famosa doesn’t work that way.
“What makes us unique from a lot of tile stores is we are not bound by a catalog,” Josiah explains. “Other showrooms are limited to what their vendor agreements allow. If you come into Famosa and say ‘I want this material’ — we go find it for you.”
Famosa represents several brands on the cutting edge of what’s trending globally, and receives new samples every two weeks. The selection covers the full spectrum of high-end stone and tile: exterior facade masonry, architectural elements like carved fireplaces and window surrounds, mosaics, natural stone, large-format porcelain, handmade tiles — including Zellige, the Moroccan handmade clay tile whose irregular sizing and rich surface variation make it a perennial choice among top designers — and slab partnerships for countertop and feature wall work.
Josiah’s commitment to sourcing the right material doesn’t stop at a phone call. He has personally flown to Israel to inspect a limestone floor for a client — standing in the factory to make sure the material was right before it was shipped.
“We’ve literally gone to the other ends of the world for our clients to get them what they want. That’s just what we do.”
Who Famosa Serves: Interior Designers Who Demand the Best
When asked who Famosa’s ideal client is, Josiah doesn’t hesitate.
“Interior designers who want the most unique materials and the highest level of service.”
That’s the Famosa client: design professionals who care deeply about materiality, who have a sophisticated eye, and who need a showroom partner they can trust to source what they specify, hold what they need, and deliver an experience worthy of the projects they’re designing.
Famosa meets every designer where they want to be met. Some want a quiet space to browse with a glass of wine and zero interruption. Others walk in with a set of plans and need samples pulled and ready for Friday. The team adapts.
“We try to be, to our clients, whatever they need us to be. However they work best, we meet them there.”
What Makes a Great Tile Showroom? Josiah’s Answer.
Beyond the product — which Famosa has in abundance — Josiah believes the thing that truly defines a great showroom is the quality of listening.
“Having a team that listens to the client and understands their needs from a performance perspective, a cost perspective, and a style perspective,” he says. “So many times I’ve seen a designer present materials to a client and it’s completely not what they wanted. It’s too expensive. It’s not their style. A great showroom team prevents that from ever happening.”
For designers and trade professionals in Orange County and beyond, the wait will be worth it. Famosa has always been ahead of what the market expected. There’s no reason to think that’s about to change.
| Famosa Tile is located in Costa Mesa, California — Orange County’s premier destination for interior designers, tile contractors, and design professionals seeking extraordinary materials and exceptional service. Visit famosatile.com or follow @famosatile. |
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