Mercury Mosaics Goes Small to Go Big
After 21 years of handcrafting tile that decorates the walls of homes and businesses around the country, Mercury Mosaics founder and CEO Mercedes Austin has decided to make “candy.”
Her new spinoff, Mosaic Candy Shop, turns tile waste into do-it-yourself mosaic art kits. The first collection goes live at mosaiccandyshop.com on Oct. 31.
With kits priced between $80 and $140, Austin says her target consumer seeks a “productive leisure” activity that results in a home accessory worthy of display. It’s the scalable answer to the tilemaking workshops that drew more than 14,000 students to her Northeast Minneapolis studio over the past decade. Each DIY kit will come with a link to a video of Austin demonstrating assembly, step by step.
Growing Mercury Mosaics, which recently moved into a new Minneapolis design studio and showroom, requires tremendous overhead in space and industrial equipment. And as an independent, design-driven brand, the pressure to stay ahead of larger competitors is intense. “Instead of being in that rat race,” Austin says, “I had this epiphany: Go smaller. I can grow my business, create meaningful jobs, and make it more sustainable without buying 200 kilns.”
Although she bootstrapped Mercury Mosaics, Austin decided for the first time to take on an investor, St. Paul-based Hill Capital Corp., which invests up to $1 million in growth-oriented companies. After two decades building a successful tile company, Austin says the new project refuels her creative ambition.
“I’m a mosaic artist who happened to build a building supply company. It was easier to fight the payroll monster with kitchens and bathrooms. [Mosaic Candy Shop] is a nod to young Mercedes who started this thing and had a vision.”
