Written by Slip-Casting Specialist, Joshua Kochis
Here at Pewabic, we love sharing the ceramic process with students and visitors almost as much as we like making tiles and pots. With the return of docent-led tours and weekly strolling opportunities to see the fabrication process at our historic building, we’ve been thinking of different ways to pull back the curtain on our creative practice and the techniques we use to create the timeless work you see in the store, at your hip and tasteful friend’s house, or around town every day.
Pewabic Store photographed by Emily Berger
Pewabic's Vesel-Making Team from L to R: Willie, Joy, Josh, and Andrew, photographed by Emily Berger
When Pewabic was just getting started, Mary Chase Perry Stratton had her vessel-making studio set up, roughly, where our retail store is located now. The pottery wheels were connected to the initial clay-making and glaze-sifting system that was installed where our current inventory room operates. For more on that, check out this post that gets into the nitty-gritty of our clay-making process.
Pewabic Co-Founder, Mary Chase Perry Stratton in her studio circa 1910
Mary received her first large commission in 1903. With this initial order for $1,000 of nature-inspired ceramic vessels, our pottery was officially up and running. Demand for this type of work in the Arts and Crafts style continued to increase until the Great Depression of 1927, when the pottery had to shift towards making smaller, economically accessible products, as most people simply could not afford luxury items like vases and lamps. Pewabic made it through the global financial crisis and kept trucking along until Mary passed away in 1961, as the founder of a nationally recognized institution. After briefly shutting down for renovations and a leadership shift, Pewabic reopened in 1967 as a satellite location for Michigan State University’s ceramics department. In 1981, MSU gave the pottery over to Pewabic Society, now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Pewabic Pottery becomes a 501(c)(3) arts nonprofit organization in 1981
Pewabic made it through the global financial crisis and kept trucking along until Mary passed away in 1961, as the founder of a nationally recognized institution. After briefly closing for renovations and a leadership change, Pewabic reopened in 1967 as a satellite location for Michigan State University’s ceramics department. In 1981, MSU gave the pottery over to Pewabic Society, now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Our beloved Firehouse, which was never meant to be operational. And yes, those red doors are as heavy (and creaky) as they look!
Production resumed in 1983. For 22 years, the vessel team worked alongside our community of students in the education studio on the second floor of the historic building. In 2005, the Pewabic vessel studio moved across the street to a large building affectionately called the Firehouse. It’s got big red doors and everything! Technically owned by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, we’ve been renting the space ever since. As the story goes, the building was designed to be a functional firehouse. Still, by the time it was complete, the fire department had shifted from using horse-drawn vehicles to larger fire engine trucks that would not actually fit inside the swinging doors that open onto Jefferson Ave.
We told this story with pride and humor for years until a local architect and history buff provided an important correction: the building was never meant to be a firehouse, but functioned as a manufacturing facility for ladders and poles used by the fire department. While the old story was more fun to tell, the updated version does fill in some plot holes for us. At some point after they stopped making municipal equipment in the un-Firehouse, it was used as a community arts space - we’ve had visitors knock on the door to tell us they raced pinewood derby cars where we now make pottery.
These storage shelves in the Firehouse are full of bisque pots waiting for their next destination at the historic building
Every Monday morning, vessels are pulled from the shelves and packed up in dishware crates with love and care, according to an order written by our inventory team with input from fabrication and retail departments. This is usually my task, and I find a lot of satisfaction in packing each crate according to how our forms fit together. It’s like doing a puzzle in three dimensions, which makes the long, arduous hundred-yard trek across the street in my little pickup truck worth the effort. If you happen to be driving in our neck of the woods around 2:00 pm on any given Monday afternoon, you might be lucky enough to see this transport in action. These orders are built based on which products are selling well, or the seasonal events and marketing launches we have coming up.
We try to keep this process efficient from a production standpoint by grouping objects together by size, form, color, and application technique, so that the glaze team doesn’t waste time switching between materials or processes more often than they need to. The weekly retail order really defines what our week in fabrication looks like, and is often a topic of animated discussion all over the pottery.
Once in a while, we get a custom commission or request for made-to-order vessels. We can generally operate on a three-week turnaround time from start to finish, where that lucky pot is passed between as many as seven different fabrication team members along the way. That’s not even including the careful hands that will finally pick finished pieces from the inventory room, take their pictures for the web store, or stage them expertly in our retail gallery for you to see and (hopefully) purchase, supporting the entire team and Detroit’s cultural history in the process. This aspect of the work we do is part of what makes it so gratifying for everyone involved - it truly takes a village to make, market, and share the thousands of products we create annually. The whole team knows that none of us could operate on such a large scale alone, and it is this cooperative workflow that results in the team chemistry you can see for yourself walking through the fabrication department on a guided or strolling tour.
We might make it look easy and fun, and we do enjoy the work - this is a big part of why so many of us stick around for so long. But it is a difficult and repetitive challenge to perform the same tasks over and over again with efficiency and quality! It is also exceptionally hard on our hands - you should see how much moisturizer we go through. At the end of the day, it’s dedication to a craft, respect for our materials, appreciation and support for our team members, and the love of the game that keeps our wheels spinning, year after year.
I hope this introduction to our vessel-making process has helped provide some context for all of the beautiful Pewabic pots you can see in person or online anytime. I think they feel so timeless because every step is intentional, and continues to be refined as we get better at it. Up next, we’ll go deeper into the specifics of wheel throwing and slip casting as techniques that have been developed and honed over the 123 years that Pewabic has been cranking out pottery. This one will include all of the details you may or may not have ever wondered about as you walk through the store or museum. In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you! What are your favorite Pewabic vessels, and what do you love about them?
Are you all about the function of our mugs, cups, and bowls, or do you have a soft spot for vases that serve as the perfect container for your freshly cut flowers? Is there something you’d like to see us make next, or think we’re missing something in our collection? Drop a comment below or come see us in person; just don’t expect to see your ideas come to life in a week or two! As you now know, ceramics are not made overnight, and it takes even longer to agree on what a new product should look like. But that’s a story for another day - I’ve got pots to make!
