The first time I saw a piece by Paul McCobb, a chair from his Planner Group collection, I fell – hard – for his understated lines and simplicity. His designs are stripped of superflous accents – pared down to the most essential parts of what defines a “chair” or a “table”. He takes the soul of an object, applies very thoughtful yet never overworked lines to provide function in the most beautiful way possible.

For me, less is always more (obvious perhaps in my liberal use of raw porcelain and clear glazes) and I see that is his work as well. I was very influenced by mid century modern lines for my tripod pieces – gently tapered legs with a purposeful angle and arc. Yes, make it functional, but never hesitate to make it beautiful.

The first piece in our collaborative artist series PTC+ is now for sale! We have ONE in-stock available for immediate shipping — just four more are available in this limited edition design – made to order and shipping in about 3 weeks. The lovely first design, called the Red Dot Tripod Vessel, is by Alyson Graves, the blogstress behind Unruly Things, has a sweet organic aesthetic that will run through in all of her work with us. Expect to see more pieces in the coming weeks by Alyson, as well as Native-American inspired designs by Kelly Britton-Andreini and animal-themed pieces by Alia Smith.

PTC+ is an ongoing collaborative project between Pigeon Toe Ceramics and our favorite local artists; each piece is hand-thrown and then hand-painted. Designs are sold as a series of 5 although each will be specially unique because of their completely handmade process.

We also have 2 new designs from the Raw collection up for your perusal. Go check it out…

I am going to try and post every Tuesday here on out (consistently!) on other people’s ceramics work. Generally I’d like to focus on small handmade designers, but Heath is an exception for a number of  reasons. Their website is fantastic and has so much information on their company policies, mission, process, and work. As someone who makes every piece by hand on a wheel, I found the online tour of their facility and process completely fascinating. At this point I enjoy making everything I do by hand but seeing the scale of the production, with all the molds and machines to quicken and ease the production process, I can’t say that I don’t wish I had access to the same kind of tools. What makes Heath great is their commitment to preserving the legacy of the company, staying true to the original glaze recipes and designs while expanding and modernizing the line. For pieces made by a mold they are very expensive, more expensive than I price mine all made by hand, but then again when you see the size and scale of their studio and the amount of people they must fairly employ to produce all their work in CA, I understand their costing level.

As for Pigeon Toe, I would love to start a more affordable line of designs made by molds that can authentically be sold as matching sets and continue the handmade pieces as a more artistic, expensive line for those that want the handmade touch. The interesting thing is that using molds still requires a lot of hand finishing. In essence it only guarantees that each piece will look exactly the same. For porcelain production it does also help prevent cracking, as porcelain is the most fickle of all clay bodies. Throwing it by hand means longer drying times and more gently handling, which is why work that is not in stock has a 3 week turnaround.

Anyway, Heath Ceramics is very impressive. I saw on Design*Sponge today that they are coming out with a beautiful double dipped glaze line in April. If I’m ever near Sausalito I want to go by and see if they’ll give me a tour so I can drool over their giant studio. If I do I’ll be sure to take photos and post my musings.

New Pigeon Toe Pieces next week including the first pieces from the artist series! Stay tuned…

We thought we’d give our readers a sneak peek into the world of our artist collaboration series – a labor of love if there ever was one. What? You didn’t know we were doing a collaborative line with our favorite local artists? You better subscribe to the newsletter to stay on the ball! First up in Alyson Graves of the popular lifestyle blog Unruly Things. We hope she doesn’t mind us sharing the snapshot of the Inaugural piece in the collection – to be sold exclusively thorough us and Olio United and being fired this weekend!

Also a big thanks to Holly over at Decor8 for the write up today and hello to all the new readers! My ears are burning.

Today, immersed in the world of programming, we worked our little pigeon toes off to get our brand spanking new storefront up on this site. Ta-Da! It doesn’t look like much right this second (I mean, one product? C’mon…) and we’re not getting rid of our beloved Etsy account (which will from here on out be our outlet for our overstock, irregularities and wonderfully discounted seconds)  — but oh how great it will become. We’re still working out the issues and have the unfortunate necessity to use flat-rate shipping, which doesn’t take weight into account  — but lo! I will be passing out coupon codes galore  as a thank you and apology for whatever kinks we run into.

Signup for the newsletter (over there to the right ———–>) to get an insta-discount of 25%. Yeah!!

Pop over to the collections page to check out a few new pieces in the Raw collection…A lidded vessel with a lovely crackle glaze exterior and raw porcelain interior, for holding your favorite treasures, and the tiniest little creamers you ever did see, with a pop of interior color and a raw exterior. Real beauties. I’ll also be posting a few “seconds” over on the etsy page shortly. These are pieces with the same lovely PTC designs but not fitting into the collection category —  pieces that are too small (and thus sold for less!), unexpected glaze colors, etc. Get ‘em while they’re hot.

If you don’t have anything going on tomorrow or are a bride-to-be, swing by Olio United from 5-8 for an amazing gathering of local, sustainable designers showing off their wedding wares. Pigeon Toe will have product samples and a full retail catalog available for ordering and/or registering for a special piece of handmade pottery. Find out more on the event here. Our stacking thimble cups were created for my wedding, happening in September, as a favor for guests to take home and also as table decoration. Each little cup will hold an airplant. We’d be happy to make these or anything else custom for centerpieces to make your wedding special.