Introduction to Pewabic
In the course of the last century, the prosperity of monumental production was housed in Detroit before it experienced violent unrest and the greatest municipal bankruptcy in the history of US history. But through everything, Pewabic passed the bumpy test of time. Pewabic was founded in 1903, the same year as the Ford Motor Company, and concentrated on individual handmade products instead of mass production that the city transformed into the epicenter of American car production.
The Early Years in Detroit
Pewabic ceramic was founded by the artist Mary Chase Perry and the stove specialist Horace Caulkins in a Detroit stable. Her first employees were Joseph Heerich, a potter born in Germany, and Julius Albus Jr., a 12-year-old boy who did strange jobs. Both would spend the rest of their career there, a pattern that other employees would repeat over the years. In search of a company name, Perry chose "Pewabic", the name of a copper mine near her birthplace in Michigan. The word comes from Chippewa or Ojibwa language and means either "metal" or, more precisely "iron".
The Founding and Growth of Pewabic
The ceramic began with the production of lamp bases, vases, planters, cups, bowls, and table cigarette boxes. Tile production came a little later and would eventually prove to be an essential source of income. These tiles were used as ordinary soil cover or striking architectural accents such as fireplace or friezes. The growing company soon needed more space, so a tailor-made factory was opened in 1907. It is a half-played building that doesn’t look like a traditional workshop. And despite the challenges of working in Detroit in turbulent times, Pewabic has not moved. It expanded the facility in 1911 and 2018.
It’s All in the Glaze
At a time when women did not lead many companies, Mary Chase Perry was good at sales and was not afraid to take over large projects. Co-founder of Pewabic combined art, technology, and entrepreneurship. This enabled them to experiment and create new, dazzling glazes – any attempt that was meticulously recorded in notebooks – and these glazes enabled Perry to "paint with fire", as she often said. Pewabic has undergone almost 600 glazes. These glazes plus creative shooting techniques led to unexpected colors and textures.
From More Than Just Sound
Like Detroit’s, Pewabic’s workforce and production ebbed and flowed. The global economic crisis and the Second World War had a major impact on the workforce and its production when people schooled back. The business suffered more than people no longer built large houses or left the city as a whole. Detroit later went into a severe decline and its population fell by two-thirds compared to the climax of 1950. While the world around it changed, Pewabic clung to its traditional paths.
Break and Hold the Shapes
Today, around 50 employees work at Pewabic. 16 of them are craftsmen and four work in the design team. The rest are in education, retail, or administration. The workshop has three large gas-powered ovens that are large enough to go in. Exposed shelves are stacked closely with tiles and objects that are ready for fire, which usually occurs three times a week overnight. In the next room, mix the 3,000 pounds of clay that is needed every week.
Handicrafts Still in Style
Pewabic has always been a supporter of the Arts and Crafts Design movement, which bloomed between 1880 and 1920. The idea is a return to craftsmanship instead of industrial mass production. It was a reaction "to the dehumanization of workers through mechanization, division of labor, and the prevailing ugliness of mechanism that resulted from the industrial revolution." Under Perry’s leadership, Pewabic did not print catalogs or standardize her work. Today they still make some iconic pieces that the co-founders would recognize, but their work is more standard.
A 120-Year-Old Business Plan
Mary Chase Perry worked well into her 90s and died in 1961. The total turnover in the first six decades was just over 1 million US dollars. Of these, 65% came from tiles and 17% of ships. The rest came from shooting and glazing for others and the sale of materials such as clay and glazes. The Calkins family took over the ceramic and gave it to a university to take care of it. After 15 years of fighting, the business was transformed into a non-profit organization in 1981. The renewed interest in Detroit and the handicraft movement, as well as large civic projects, revitalized the business. In 2024, the ceramic had its best year of all time and had almost 9,500 ships, 40,000 architectural tiles, and almost 33,000 artificial tiles. In sales and architectural provisions, 3.38 million dollars were brought in, an increase of 42% since 2018.
