Mirth Studio

Sally wanted colorful floors with beautifully intricate patterns – like the ones she’d hand-painted her well-heeled clients as a decorative painter in New York. But her back would no longer allow her to spend hours in a prone position painting the floor like a reverse Michelangelo. Those days were over. She thought about cement Morracan tiles – they would give her the color and pattern she was after but they were too cold and hard for her living room. With practicality in mind (and a two year old) she decided wood tiles were much more “mommy friendly” than the cement versions which had inspired her. “Little heads get a much softer bump from wood than they do from tile,” she says. She started researching and discovered there was nothing like this available in the marketplace. After months of hard work digging into the nitty gritty of the wood flooring industry (she never imagined that it would be her calling, but it suddenly seemed fascinating and glamorous), she finally hit on a manufacturing process that would produce wood tiles that were as durable as any wood floor, but with her own beautiful designs, just like she’d painted them. The tongue-and-groove design also made the installation a breeze. It didn’t take long for Sally to realize she was sitting on something much bigger than her foyer floor. With a portfolio of patterns in hand and a manufacturer solidified, Mirth Studio emerged right alongside her new home. “Nearly every floor in the house is a prototype,” she says. WHO IS THIS SALLY BENNETT? Sally Bennett is an artist, interior designer, mother and now also inventor of Mirth Studio tiles. Her career in design has spanned two decades, three states and two countries. She continues to work out of her studio in downtown Charleston, SC. When she is not painting or working away at Mirth Studio to develop cool flooring products, she spends her time on the endless renovation of the house that inspired it all.