If Statements were a body, Steve Calkins would be the heart. Between his passion for the northwest (he grew up in Portland and has lived his entire adult life in Seattle), and his love for the tile business, we couldn’t ask for a better leader.

He graduated with a bachelors degree in business administration from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, and met Carol, his wife, while there. They will be celebrating 39 years of marriage in June. Steve and Carol became part of the tile/design industry in 1970, when he graduated from college and began working for Uniq Distributing Corporation in Portland. In 1974 when he and Carol were pregnant with their first child, they moved to Seattle and took over Uniq. Uniq carried Japanese 4 ¼” wall tile, a wide-variety of mosaics and 8” floor tile from Italy. Because it was the late 70’s, carpet, sheet vinyl and plastic laminate were the design trends at the time, but Steve, being the mover and shaker that he is, decided to change all that. He attended home shows at the Seattle Center to introduce Italian floor tile and the use of mosaics for kitchen backsplashes and tub recesses. To stay in touch with the trends he added plastic laminate and sheet vinyl to Uniq’s product mix through the 1980’s but always knew he was a tile guy at heart. His love of Italian tile grew after he developed a close friendship with some east coast buyers who were successfully purchasing Italian tile for distribution. In 1978 he took his first trip to Italy to buy tile and subsequently attended the Cersaie show (the world’s largest ceramic tile exhibition) in September of that same year. Since then, attending Cersaie has become an annual event for Steve.

Steve left Uniq for a two year hiatus. The sabbatical gave him time to work on his vision for a new type of tile distribution business with a smaller clientèle and a focus on the design community’s needs. So in October of 1997, he made this vision a reality when he opened Statements Distinctive Tile and Stone in Georgetown. In addition to Steve, there were five employees– two who worked part time. Everyone wore many hats during the early days. Steve handled orders, unloaded containers and purchased materials.

Steve takes great pride in knowing that, over the last eleven years, Statements has never lost sight of their initial vision for the designer.

Steve’s greatest pleasures in life have always been his children, family and friends, including the Statements staff–evidenced by how well he takes care of us.

His community involvement is also very important to him. He has been a nine year board member of the Ceramic Tile Distributors Association, which represents ceramic tile wholesalers with representatives and associate members from factories around the world. Steve is also president of his local church and has been on a number of non-profit boards. He and Carol also support a number of charities both internationally and locally and are currently board members for a low-income senior housing project that will be built in Lynnwood in 2009. Steve also encourages his employees to become involved in the community and will support them financially to do so. With his support, Statements has participated in the Children’s Hospital Cystic Fibrosis stair climb and Habitat for Humanity’s South Puget Sound projects, amongst many others.

Steve made two life changing decisions in 2008. The first change was to delegate a portion of Statements’ leadership to his son, Ryan. Although he has fewer responsibilities, he continues to be our chief ambassador, advisor and security blanket. The second change was to open a concept showroom in Pioneer Square geared towards Seattle’s architecture and design community. Statements Design Studio addresses the needs of architects and designers who are often unable to visit our Georgetown showroom. The space also provides a little more room for offices to accommodate our growing staff. The Georgetown showroom model has been a tremendous success in supporting the residential designer. Steve hopes the studio will do the same for architects and commercial designers.

Steve says his life today is “glorious.” He spends his time in the Pacific Northwest involved with his passions of work, family, friends and travel, but does grumble when the weather turns cold and he knows how warm and sunny it is in Arizona. When he is in Arizona, Steve stays connected to work, family and friends but plays a lot of golf! He has a phone line set up directly from Statements to his home in Arizona. Steve says, “…for me life can’t be any better.” This is obvious when you hear him speak about his life as a grandpa, his days golfing and his excitement when Statements has a great month. Steve is truly an inspiration to us all. He has so much positive energy and is an encouragement to all of us.