Vivace Tile & S
tone is a long awaited dream of Stephen Jay Lanier (Jay). His love of tile began in 1994 when he became a helper to a commercial floor covering contractor. Jay took to the trade quickly and it soon became second nature. The contractor enjoyed teaching as much as Jay enjoyed learning and shared much of his trade knowledge with Jay. He shared not only installation guidelines and strategies, but shared business information as well, such as cost and profit, business requirements, etc. After 6 to 8 months of in depth training and hands on experience with installations of various floor coverings, family circumstances compelled Jay to move to Florida. He joined forces with a primarily residential floor covering contractor and simultaneously began his own separate installations as a subcontractor. The gained experience in the residential field, coupled with the extensive knowledge and experience of the commercial field was invaluable. After about a year and a half, he moved back to his home state of North Carolina and took up residence in Eli Whitney which is centrally located between Raleigh and Greensboro. This gave him easy access to both the triangle and triad areas of North Carolina.
Over the years, while installing many types of flooring, tile installation has remained his favorite and become his passion. He is drawn by the intricacies of design and the timeless beauty of so many variations. The endless possibilities of design and personalization make tile an art form and not just a phase of construction. Seeing a need for the growing area surrounding Burlington/Elon to have a showroom for quality tile, combined with the rapid growth of an upscale environment has finally brought this dream to a tangible state.
The idea for Vivace Tile & Stone was conceived after countless efforts to reach customers wanting a wide array of tile samples without substantial drive time. Jay had noticed the non-existence of a quality tile showroom in the area and had had to send his customers to various places due to the lack of tile selections in this area. He feels it necessary to offer a large selection of designer tiles in his own showroom in order to meet the immediate needs of all consumers. Jay wants to provide the customer not only with a warm oasis of tile, but friendly, customer satisfaction that is sure to make anyone want to return.