Robin Petravic, owner of Heath Ceramics, spoke at the American Craft Council’s conference, Creating a New Craft Culture in Minneapolis October 17.This is culled from my notes of his talk.

Petravic and Catherine Bailey, wife, partner and co-owner, bought the company in 2002.   Robin and Cathy were designers; Rob product design engineer and Kathy an industrial designer.  Together they set the vision and the culture. Design and craft are at the forefront of their vision.

In 2009, the business grew. The business is 5-6 times bigger than when they bought it in 2002.  The building was built in 1959. The building feels like a Case House study. Very modern. They have 2 stores, one in Sausilito, one in Los Angeles and plan on opening one in San Francisco next year. Their business model is to sell directly to customers.

There were 24 people there when Petrovic and Bailey bought the business in 2002. Today there are 80 employees. Everything is manufactured on a human scale. 45 pepople work in production.

He compared working for, i.e. Nike, where the design process is divorced from the actual making and the making takes place on a larger scale (huge factories in foreign lands). Heath is much more rewarding because everything is made on site.

Charles and Ray Eames

Picture of Charles and Ray Eames working in real materials, as opposed to foam core or some other typical mock up material common in industrial design model making.

Heath has always been about designing and making. All Heath Ceramics are made on the premises in Sausolito.

Many employees have been there a long time. It is the last pottery of its kind in California. Edith Heath has left this legacy. She taught herself how to make pots and was a potter. She designed the clay bodies and taught herself chemistry. The holistic depth of knowledge of the work informs the work.

Eva Zeisel, in contrast is more about the form only. Heath is about the materials.

At Heath, the move to production pottery came out of came out of a curiosity of industry and used as a tool.

Petravic talks about 3 generations of shoppers, still loyal, still bringing new people to shop.

Design has brought a renewed interest and relevence to the brand. Tiles are a big part of the business.

He thinks of himself as a designer/maker/enabler.

Christina Zamora is their main designer.

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