About Us

I'm Juanita Canzoneri. I created my first mosaic project in 2001 haven't looked back. 

In May 2019 I purchased Kismet Mosaic from the previous owner, Carrie Seabrook, and am totally in love with the colors and finish of Kismet tiles. We have a wealth of mosaic art supplies and are now carrying home/commercial tiles for installation.

Our mission is to help you expand and explore your creative life. 

Email me (info@kismetmosaic.com) or call me (719-354-4671) with your mosaic project questions or questions about our products. I love talking about mosaics!

 

Kismet Mosaic - Sustainable & Beautiful Tile for Art Lovers and Designers

 

Our Name

Kismet means ‘destiny’ or ‘fate’ and is derived from the Turkish dialect. The reason this name was chosen is that the man who helped founder, Michele Petno, learn to import her first mosaic tiles from Asia in 1994 is the founder of the Elementil product line (what we call the Kismet tile line).  They had become good friends in the 90’s then lost track of each other. Once she stumbled on this line and realized it was her friends’ she felt it truly was destiny, especially because their friendship was renewed. It truly was ‘kismet’!!

 

Our Founder—Michele Petno

Michele Petno started Wits End Furnishings in 1994 after leaving her position as Human Resource Director for a hospital.  Disillusioned with the corporate world and seeking self-employment, she opened an antique/used furnishings store.  Shortly after, she acquired some small pieces of tile and taught herself the art of mosaic.  Soon sheI was teaching the art form to customers which then led to carrying mosaic supplies.  Soon the number of mosaic customers exceeded the antique customers, and a new business was born!  The name was changed to Wits End Mosaic six months later (the name reflecting her disillusionment with the corporate world.)

The new mosaic store offered a multitude of products, including ceramic tile, porcelain tiny tiles and glass mosaics.  Wits End started importing 10mm porcelain tile from Japan doubling the inventory and sales.   Wits End Mosaic went ‘on-line’ in 1997 becoming the first mosaic web store in the world! Sales increased ten-fold and the storefront was closed to better manage the internet business.  Wits End became an ‘S’ Corporation soon after.

Smalti was introduced in 1997.  When Wits End was sold in 2000 the smalti line was not included and smalti.com was created.   Millefiori was introduced in 2000 and was sold under smalti.com.  In 2004 Wits End Mosaic, Inc. was renamed Mozaic Arts, Inc. That same year smalti.com was sold and the millefiori line was not included. MuranoMillefiori.com was formed and then sold in 2009 to allow Michele to focus on teaching mosaic art.

She taught myself through trial and error and taught only what she knew from experience.   Eventually she knew there was so much she didn’t know but could not find the answers in any mosaic books.  She then turned to books on how to paint portraits, books about abstract art, tonal values and color theory.  She applied what she learned to mosaic and was able to teach many more types of mosaic classes.

After selling smalti.com she continued to maintain friendships with the smalti factory owners in Cuernavaca, Mexico and suggested they open a school there.  They said, “why don’t you do it?” So, she did.  The Mosaics In Mexico school afforded her the extreme privilege of working with the best mosaic artists in Mexico and with a former Professor from the Friulli School of Mosaic in Spilimbergo, Italy.  Mosaics In Mexico offered the first publicized mosaic portraiture class and the first “modern Smalti” class outside of Italy.  The school ran from 2008 – 2012, closing when the drug war publicity caused attendance to decline.

While Michele did not intend to start another supply business, the entrepreneurial bug bit her again in 2012 when I stumbled on a recycled glass tile line made in Istanbul.  Hello  Kismet Mosaic!

 

Owner #2—Carrie Seabrook

Our second owner, Carrie Seabrook became an empty nester with a new husband in 2015. She had just completed 30 years in IT as a computer programmer. There was a nudge in her to get back into something artsy. She dabbled with general crafts, took woodworking classes, then stumbled on a mosaic kit. It was LOVE at first nip. I sat and made mosaic after mosaic after mosaic every evening and weekend. There were little pieces of glass everywhere. She read every website, YouTube video, article. She was self-taught but, eventually, took a few workshops at Chicago Mosaic School. She bought everything mosaic, buying supplies from every online mosaic store. But, buying from Kismet Mosaic owner Michele Petno, was her favorite.

Then she received an email from Michele saying that she needed to sell her business that had only been formed 2 years earlier due to family issues. The email was sent to her largest buyers outlining a large sale and Carrie was one who had first dibs. She thought “hmm what if I purchased Kismet Mosaic?”. After some long discussions with her husband, they did just that in October 2015. Michele had just gotten the business started with Kismet tiles (squares, mini-rounds, penny rounds and belli-buttons) as her only product.

Carrie re-opened Kismet Mosaic in November 2015. It was a labor of love for her. Her background in IT aided her with anything website related. She added hundreds of new products and numerous product-lines. The business grew rapidly.

Unfortunately, reasons forced to sell this business. It was with great sorrow as she had such vision for it going forward. She hoped it would land in the hands of someone will love it as much as she (and Michele before) have done.

Owner #3—Juanita Canzoneri

Our current owner, Juanita Canzoneri, began to work in mosaics in 2001 after a layoff. While retraining with plans to go into web design, she realized that she needed the dimensionality and texture of mosaic art rather than the goal of working solely on websites.

Her mosaic career saw her taking on large construction projects, small custom home installations, wall art, teaching classes in mosaic art, and becoming a gallery artist in a local artist’s co-op. While there are many different materials that can be used in mosaic art, glass is her main love.

That is why, when Carrie Seabrook’s announcement about needing to sell Kismet Mosaic came up in a Facebook mosaic art group, she was intrigued. Most of her online sale success had been for mosaic supplies through her home studio (JCanz Studio). So, she knew she could take on this business. “Kismet” had struck once again!

But while Michele and Carrie had both housed Kismet Mosaic in their homes, Juanita did not have a large enough home to support this enterprise. There was a shopping center near to her home that had a space available that she had been wanting to do something in for years. Inquiries were made and everything came together for her to purchase the business, pack it all up, and move it to Colorado.

With this move came several changes. We utilized the commercial space as a retail store as well as our online warehouse space. Most mosaic artists prefer to see the actual products; to touch the color and feel the texture and size.

Juanita streamlined the product lines, focusing on a goal to eventually offer many of the tile lines as sheeted tiles for the home and commercial Décor business. The storefront now operates as a tile showroom and there is a dedicated website section for this market as well.