The AGA Rangemaster Group is home to a family of strong consumer brands that, together, tell a powerful story - not just in the UK, but increasingly overseas too
In 1984, Fired Earth was established to source and sell handmade tiles. Starting
with just a handful of traditional terracotta floor tiles, and operating from a
corner of a rented farmyard, sales soon took off.
By the summer of 1984 the Company decided to take on a small London showroom, and
started to increase the range by the cautious addition of a few handmade glazed
wall tiles. As sales continued to grow, so the Company’s search widened for beautiful
and unusual tiles – sometimes buying rare and antique tiles at auction in order
to study and reproduce the originals. Within 5 years the Company had become the
UK’s leading retailer of up-market tiles, as well as a major buyer in 20 countries
across the globe.
The Directors, however, perceiving the difficulty of maintaining the extraordinary
growth, had already made plans to expand, thus in 1989 Fired Earth Tiles plc became
fully listed on the stock exchange of the United Kingdom, and the first Fired Earth
licensee showroom opened.
At that time unlike the jumble and clutter of most tile shops, Fired Earth displayed
their products concisely and intelligently in a quality environment. Shops were
established in good locations, alongside similar specialist retailers, and were
fitted to a standard hitherto unseen in the tile industry. The key was a distinctive
branded image and a fully fitted “library” interior with sectioned floors and a
layout table, where clients could both browse and experiment with a full range of
samples.
Throughout the 1990’s several new Fired Earth showrooms were opened and the first
non tile products introduced – including paints and tribal rugs with bathrooms in
1999 and kitchen furniture, produced by their sister company Grange, in 2004.
In July 2001, the Aga Foodservice Group announced the expansion of their retail
operations with the acquisition of Fired Earth, well aware of the synergies between
the Fired Earth product and the illustrious Aga.
Fired Earth now operates over 60 showrooms worldwide – our business is bigger but
the philosophy remains the same.
Company Philosophy
The Fired Earth Philosophy is very simple - to offer craftsmanship, originality,
creativity, authenticity and inspiration.
Our products are designed, selected and made with extraordinary care and attention
to detail. With the environment in mind we are proud that the majority of our products
are sourced from the UK and Europe, our paints are categorised as low VOC and our
wood flooring and furniture products are all sourced from sustainable forests.