Maker/Mentor 2017

June 8 – August 15, 2017

Each year Pewabic exhibits the outstanding work of its students and staff members. Hailing from varied backgrounds and all over the world Pewabic’s students and staff all learn here. They progress, experiment and grow under the chipped tile roof that is Pewabic’s historic building. They are all makers and mentors.

2017 JURORS: Kaitlyn & Ryan Lawless / Corbé Company

Corbé is a ceramic design studio in the North End of Detroit handcrafting porcelain wares that are simple and useful, built for the modern home and table. Balancing the precision of technology with warmth of hand, our ceramic wares are inspired by mid-century design, traditional craft, and small-scale, American manufacture.

Formed in 2012 on Orcas Island, Washington, the rural, watery dwelling has forever left its mark on our lives and body of work. In the winter of 2015 our little island-grown ceramics studio set its sights on the possibilities and inspiration of Detroit. For us, Detroit means family, a community spirit of creativity, design, and hard work.

We are Kaitlyn and Ryan Lawless, partners in life and work. Corbé started on a collaboration of differing backgrounds to challenge, complement, and round out the ceramics design studio we wanted to build. Ryan possesses a Masters in Ceramics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Kaitlyn comes from an art background at the University of Oregon. Years in different fields — ceramic sculpture, production pottery, graphic design, marketing, and retail — make our partnership a strong foundation for Corbé.