Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Heath Ceramics factory in Sausalito. Ric and I registered for our dishes from Heath, so to say that it was excited to get a behind the scenes look would be an understatement. Okay, okay, so Heath is a pretty (expensive) hipster, Californian brand and I'm not ashamed to say I'm in love with it. However, on the course of this tour I really got an appreciation for the history and thoughtfulness behind the design.
Even though we arrived late, the staff was flexible and friendly-- they let us join in with the tour that was underway. We were led through backstage by a very friendly woman who works at the factory store.
I was pretty shocked how close we could get to all the drying pottery and machinery. It was so interesting to see all of the individually operated machines-- now I know why it's so expensive! Nothing at the factory is computerized or automatic.
Molds and the pottery they make.
Most of the molds for jugs and mugs at the factory.
Casserole lids drying.
Plate machine thingy (that's the technical term).
I want all of these. Look at those cute lil cappacino mugs!
Pre-glazed small pitchers.
Put a lid on it! Ha....ha...
I had no idea they were making clocks, but oh sweet baby Jesus I want one.
Their master glazer is Edith Heath's niece. She experiments and gets to make beautiful tiles like this!
Original molds for tiles.
Gimme some numbers!
// The Deets //
- Reserve your tickets ahead of time-- they're free but sell out if you wait too long.
- The factory tour has what they call "seconds" and "thirds"-- items that have slight defects that are on sale!
- The tour is about 30 minutes.
Have fun and let me know how it goes! Better yet, tell me what your favorite Heath piece is! It is really hard for me to pick just one, but I the one that I use the most are the mugs from the Rim Line. We have them in redwood and white-- I think the redwood is such a neat color. I feels like I'm drinking out of the earth.. in a good way.
