Monrovia rectangles laid in a running bond with small black square inserts at the joints, a black slatted bench standing on them

Monrovia Series

A handcrafted foundation,for inside and out

Bringing artisanal soul to high-traffic surfaces, the Monrovia collection features durable, 5/8 inch thick tile pavers engineered to move effortlessly between indoor comfort and outdoor elements.

Sizes
Eleven
Thickness
Five eighths of an inch
Edge
Square
Made in
Gardena, California

Monrovia collection

Seven ways to work in Monrovia

Each piece is crafted to balance structural resilience with a deeply human touch, offering a living surface that wears in, not out.

Whether grounding an expansive outdoor patio or adding a rustic, tactile warmth to interior floors, these pavers deliver a timeless, honest character that elevates the architecture around it.

Eleven sizes on a square edged red body, five eighths of an inch thick. That is an eighth more than the rest of the red body line, and that eighth is why Monrovia is the series with stairtreads. It is also the only ARTO ceramic restricted to a single glaze program, our Premium High Fire, and it can be ordered unglazed, in the Monrovia Red body every one of our red body series is made from.

Made to order. Monrovia is not one of the in stock sizes, so it is made in the finish you choose rather than pulled off the floor. Ask us about lead time before you specify a date.

Monrovia hexagons, no two the same red

Shapes and sizes

Eleven sizes, one edge

Five squares, two rectangles, two octagon sets and two hexagons. The drawings show the shape. The dimensions are on the row.

Squares Five

  • Monrovia 12x12

    Nominal 12x12

    Actual 12 3/8 x 12 3/8

  • Monrovia 8x8

    Nominal 8x8

    Actual 8 1/8 x 8 1/8

  • Monrovia 6x6

    Nominal 6x6

    Actual 6 x 6

  • Monrovia 4x4

    Nominal 4x4

    Actual 3 7/8 x 3 7/8

  • Monrovia 3x3

    Nominal 3x3

    Actual 2 7/8 x 2 7/8

Rectangles Two

  • Monrovia 6x12

    Nominal 6x12

    Actual 6 x 12 3/8

  • Monrovia 4x8

    Nominal 4x8

    Actual 3 3/8 x 8 1/8

Octagon sets Two

  • Monrovia 12 inch Octagon Set

    Nominal 12x12 and 5x5

    Actual Ask us

  • Monrovia 10 inch Octagon Set

    Nominal 10 inch and 4x4

    Actual 9 3/8 x 9 3/8 and 3 7/8 x 3 7/8

Hexagons Two

  • Monrovia 12 inch Hexagon

    Nominal 12 inch

    Actual 10 1/2 x 10 1/2

  • Monrovia 8 inch Hexagon

    Nominal 8 inch

    Actual 8 1/2 x 8 1/2

Nominal is the name a tile goes by. Actual is what a caliper reads, and the difference is the shrinkage of the fired body. Each octagon comes as a set with the small square that fills the junction where four of them meet. Every size is five eighths thick on the same red body, glazed or bare.

Monrovia outdoors, on a stair and the wall that runs beside it

Glazes

Twenty colors, or none

Every other ARTO ceramic gives you two glaze programs to choose between. Monrovia gives you one, and the option of leaving it off.

  • Premium High Fire

    Twenty colors

    Fired hot, and the only glaze program Monrovia takes. Sixteen of the twenty are matte, three are satin and one is gloss, which is the palette you would want underfoot: a matte floor does not show what a gloss floor shows. The same twenty are used across every ARTO ceramic product.

  • Unglazed

    Monrovia Red

    The fired body with nothing over it, and the reason the series carries the name. Every red body series ARTO makes, Oleson and Studio and Scirocco and the rest, is built on the Monrovia Red bisque. Ordering it unglazed is not a plainer tile, it is the material itself.

  • One program Not two Every other ARTO ceramic comes in Premium High Fire and Signature Low Fire. Monrovia comes in Premium only.
  • Variation V2 to V4 Nine colors sit at V2, slight variation. Ten at V3, moderate. One, Black and Blue, is V4, which means it cannot be judged from one or two pieces.
  • Finish Mostly matte Sixteen matte, three satin, one gloss. Monrovia Red is matte too.
  • Both ways Every size All eleven field sizes and all fourteen trim pieces are made glazed and unglazed. The choice is not limited to some of the sizes.

Glaze on a handmade body moves, and it moves differently in every firing. Colors on a screen are a starting point, not a match. Order a sample in the color you are considering, or a Monrovia Red chip if you are leaving it bare.

Premium high fire

Twenty colors, and the clay

Grouped so a family reads as a family. Click any square to order that color as a chip.

Monrovia Red, the unglazed ARTO red body Monrovia Red Unglazed, the body itself

Not a glaze. Monrovia Red is the color of the fired clay with nothing over it, which is a body color rather than part of either glaze palette. It is the same bisque under every red body series we make. Order it as a chip like any color here.

Premium High Fire Twenty

A glaze on a backlit screen is a starting point and not a match. Shade moves from tile to tile as well, from slight at V2 to random at V4. Order the chip in the color you are considering before you specify it.

Stairtreads, bases and caps

Fourteen pieces, only here

A nosing that returns over a riser, and a cap that straddles a wall. Neither shape is available in half an inch of clay, which is what the extra eighth buys you.

Stairtreads Four

  • Monrovia 12 inch RBX Stairtread

    Size 12 3/8 x 12 3/8 x 1 3/4

  • Monrovia 12 inch RBX Stairtread Corner

    Size 12 3/8 x 12 3/8 x 1 3/4

  • Monrovia 12 inch LBX Stairtread

    Size 12 3/8 x 12 3/8 x 1 3/4

  • Monrovia 12 inch LBX Stairtread Corner

    Size 12 3/8 x 12 3/8 x 1 3/4

Bullnoses Two

  • Monrovia 12x12 Surface Bullnose

    Size 12 3/8 x 12 3/8

  • Monrovia 12x12 Surface Bullnose Corner

    Size 12 3/8 x 12 3/8

Cove bases Four

  • Monrovia 4x12 Flat Top Cove Base

    Size 12 x 4 1/2 x 1

  • Monrovia 6x12 Flat Top Cove Base

    Size 12 x 6 x 1 1/2

  • Monrovia 4x12 Bullnose Top Cove Base

    Size 12 x 4 1/2 x 1

  • Monrovia 6x12 Bullnose Top Cove Base

    Size 12 x 6 x 1 1/2

Wall caps Four

  • Monrovia 12x12 Wall Cap

    Size 12 x 12 3/8 x 1 1/2

    Fits a wall 10 1/8 inch wall

  • Monrovia 11x12 Wall Cap

    Size 12 x 10 7/8 x 1 1/2

    Fits a wall 9 5/8 inch wall

  • Monrovia 10x12 Wall Cap

    Size 12 x 9 3/4 x 1 1/2

    Fits a wall 8 1/2 inch wall

  • Monrovia 9x12 Wall Cap

    Size 12 x 8 1/2 x 1 1/2

    Fits a wall 7 3/8 inch wall

RBX and LBX Stairtreads have matching corners. Every piece here is made glazed or unglazed like the field tile, so a stair can run in Monrovia Red from tread to riser. The wall size given for each cap is the wall it fits over, not the cap's own width.

Trim and accessories

Forty two pieces for the edges

The trim is where a tile job stops looking like a tile job. One set serves Monrovia, Oleson and Studio Field, all of it on the same red body as the field.

  • Surface Bullnose

    Eight pieces

    A finished edge where the tile stops.

    6x6, 4x4 and 3x3, each with a matching corner, plus a 3x6 in long side and short side.

  • Cove Base

    Eight pieces

    The transition from floor to wall.

    6x6 and 3x6, flat top or bullnose top, with inside and outside corners, plus base moulding plain or with a cove.

  • Liners

    Eight pieces

    A thin line of color to break up a field or cap a run.

    Pencil in five eighths and one inch, square, grooved, Pinnacle in one and two inch, the P liner and the staged liner.

  • Mouldings and Rails

    Twelve pieces

    Relief and shadow where a wall changes plane.

    Moulding A and B, five numbered profiles, two chair rails, Waterbury, Cornice and Rutland.

  • Quarter Round and Beak

    Four pieces

    A soft return on an outside edge.

    Quarter round and inside quarter round, the quarter round beak, and the inside beak corner.

  • V Cap

    Two pieces

    A capped edge for a counter or a step.

    The cap and its corner.

Order the trim in the same Premium color as the field. This set comes in both glaze programs where Monrovia comes in one, so it is possible to pick a trim color no Monrovia tile can be made in. Ask us for sizes and we will send them with a quote.

Applications

Where Monrovia can go

Seven ratings, and Monrovia carries all seven. Ask us before you specify a drive or an exterior, because the substrate matters as much as the tile.

  • Floors Floors Rated to walk on, glazed or unglazed.
  • Walls Walls Wall caps and wall work. Four cap sizes are in the section above.
  • Indoor Indoor Kitchens, halls, hearths and any interior floor.
  • Outdoor Outdoor Patios, courtyards, colonnades and stairs.
  • Pedestrian Pedestrian Foot traffic, including commercial floors.
  • Vehicular Vehicular Drives and motor courts. Ask us before you specify one.
  • Freeze / Thaw Freeze / Thaw Holds up where water freezes in the surface.

Ratings describe the field tile and not every piece around it, so a liner is not a floor tile and a chair rail is not a stair tread. Send us the drawing and we will tell you what the trim can take.

Custom is the standard

Two pieces or ten thousand

We started as a custom shop and we still run that way. Send a chip. Bring a swatch. Show us what you're building. We match a glaze to a color you already have, cut shapes that do not exist yet, and turn your own artwork into a handpainted design. A sample is fired before any production commitment.

  • Custom Color
  • Custom Shape
  • Historical Match
  • Color Match
  • Two Pieces
  • Two Pallets

The material

Built to outlast the install

The craft is in the maker's hands. The performance is in the fired clay body. ARTO publishes CSI 3-Part specifications and installation guides so architects and designers can specify with confidence.

  • The mix

    Red Body Ceramic at Five Eighths

    Handcrafted in Gardena from high fired terracotta. Monrovia is a red body at five eighths of an inch, an eighth thicker than most of the clay line. Left unglazed, that body is the color you see, and it is the color we call Monrovia Red. Every piece is made by hand, so thickness and size vary across a run.

  • The color

    Premium High Fire, Twenty Colors

    Monrovia takes the Premium High Fire program and no other. Twenty colors, or unglazed in the Monrovia Red body. Shade variation runs from V2 to V4. Signature Low Fire and Metallic glazes sit elsewhere in the clay line and are not offered on this series.

  • The documentation

    Specs and Downloads

    A CSI 3-Part master specification covers clay tile, 09 30 13 Quarry Tile. Cleaning, efflorescence and sealing guides are in the technical library.

  • The application

    Walls, Floors, Indoors and Out

    Rated for interior and exterior walls and floors, and for freeze and thaw conditions. Ask us before a drive or a motor court is specified, because the substrate decides it as much as the tile.

  • The industry

    Industry Standards

    Member of TCNA, NTCA, and CTDA. Custom products are available with project-specific testing on request.

  • The decision

    Sampling

    Always order a sample before you commit. What you see on a screen is not what your hand will know in the room. Samples ship from our Gardena facility.

Material truth

Rustic Elegance

Rough and refined at the same time. A handcrafted edge where no two pieces are exactly alike. Glaze fired over handmade clay, in a palette that reads differently at every hour of the day.

It is not a marketing phrase. It is a material truth. Far from perfect, and that is the whole point.