Syzygy Tile ships 20,000 tiles for Disney World Wednesday

By Susan Dunlap

sdunlap@scsun-news.com on Twitter @SCSunNews

By Susan Dunlap - Sun-News Silver City residents Amanda Welford (left) and Lori Reyes were part of the crew of 20 artisans who made the 20,000 tiles Syzygy Tile shipped to Disney World in Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday.

SILVER CITY >> Twenty-one years ago husband and wife team Lee Gruber and David del Junco were driving through Pennsylvania on a pleasure trip when they stopped in Doylestown at the home of Henry Mercer who was an early twentieth-century tile artist. They were so inspired, they learned as much as they could from the ceramicists at the Mercer home, bought some books and started their own tile company here in Silver City.

Now with a crew of 20 artisans, their company, Syzygy Tile, shipped off a box of tiles produced for Disney World in Orlando, Fla., on Wednesday.

"We're delighted to have the order," Gruber said.

The process to make the tile that will be on display by mid-February in Disney World starts with wet, soft clay, showroom floor manager Patrick Hoskins said.

By Susan Dunlap - Sun-News Lee Gruber, co-owner, along with her husband, David del Junco, started Syzygy Tile in Silver City 21 years ago out of their home.

"We really, really strive for handmade," Hoskins said.

The clay gets shaped through one of three methods, through a cookie-cutter process cutting the tiles into shapes or through pressing out the tile or by extruding the tiles. The tiles that Disney choose were cut into diamond-like shapes.

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Syzygy Tile ships 20,000 tiles for Disney World Wednesday