In the heart of San Francisco’s Design District, at 16th and Kansas streets, Galleria Tile offers a showroom that invites guests to encounter new ideas in flooring and tile. The store has a wide selection of tiles, including porcelain, ceramic, glass, and marble, sourced from more than a hundred manufacturers.
At the helm of the boutique home décor shop is 31-year-old Claudia Visona. Visona learned her trade from her mother, Deanna, who opened the store 30 years ago.
“My mom doesn’t really work here anymore, but she started this business because my grandma used to have a store down on 16th and [Harrison]; down by Jolene’s. It was called Dylan Tile,” Visona said. “I have clients who knew my grandma from Dylan Tile, way back in the ‘80s. And of course, clients who knew my mom. I’ll be out in the City on the weekend and I’ll run into my clients.”
Visona walks her dog, Huey, a five-year-old black poodle, around Showplace Square and Potrero Hill. They have an easy commute; they live about four blocks up the hill from the shop.
“We have a lot of selection, and we have a large range,” Visona said. “It’s not like when you go to Ann Sacks or Waterworks where you’re paying $50 per tile, every tile they’re showing. We have a range where you could have $5 per square foot to $100 per square foot. There’s something for everyone’s budget.”
“I stumbled into Galleria Tile while strolling in Potrero Hill a few months ago and was immediately smitten. My husband and I are remodeling our bathrooms and kitchen, but we don’t have the budget to hire an interior designer,” said Dolores Heights resident Debbie Findling. “While I know what I like and what I don’t like, I don’t have any particular design ability. Within a few minutes chatting with Claudia, she understood my design aesthetic and quickly gathered some tiles that complimented my style. It was like having my own personal design style guru! She is so incredibly talented and knowledgeable about different tiles, stones, and materials and didn’t push any particular agenda. She was also sensitive to my budget and made some recommendations to save me money.”
“We try our best to accommodate so people can get what they really want. Even if you have champagne taste on a beer budget!” Visona said.
“When I went to Galleria Tile and met with Claudia, she was able to understand the look I was going for and point me in the right direction,” said Noe Valley resident Anna Burke. “[Claudia] gave me great advice on how to use a tile that I really liked, making it more of an accent piece rather than an entire wall. She drew a sketch for me and explained what types of tiles would be best for the bathrooms. She has a wonderful sense of design and easily put together the types of tiles that work well with one another.”
Many Victorian homes in the Mission District, Bernal Heights and Mission Dolores were built with elegant antique tile designs. Visona works with a tile maker, Original Style, from England, which specializes in this style.
“I had a client come with a beautiful stone tile,” she recounted. “When you have a steam shower, you are not supposed to use stone it. But another showroom had told them it was okay to use it, because stone tile costs a lot more than porcelain.”
“We retiled our bathroom, and we worked with Claudia to choose tile. She was great; she had suggestions based on our parameters: small bathroom, high ceilings, blue vanity, that sort of thing,” said Glenn Park resident, Heather World. “She knew which tile is more prone to stain and which is easier to clean, little details that we would not likely have figured out on our own. Plus, she’s a joyful spirit, so that’s kind of fun!”
Visona predicts that Trump Administration tariffs could put price pressures on imported tile.
“We have already seen some impact with India,” she said. “We don’t sell that many products from India, but some marbles come from there. As far as my Spanish and Italian we haven’t seen anything yet. We shall see!”
To avoid shipping disruptions or cost hikes, Visona recommends ordering imported materials sooner rather than later.
Visona took over Galleria Tile after spending two years studying in Italy at the Florence Institute of Design International, staying an additional year and working at a jewelry store in Santa Croce.
“When I was 18 or 19, I totally wanted to escape. I grew up in Mill Valley. Going to San Francisco wasn’t that far away,” she said. “I tried to run away a couple of times because I was like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want to run this business!’”
After COVID-19, when she moved back from Italy, her attitude about the family business shifted.
“Now that I have friends here and I got more comfortable in the City, I don’t think I would leave again,” she said. “And I love this job now.”
Visona’s father, Giuseppe, is a tile installer; her brother, Tiberio, owns Delta T Plumbing in Marin.
Chaitanya Tondepu 
Mark Steensland 
PV Staff