Heath 10

I’m a big fan of Heath Ceramics. Founded in 1948 by Edith Heath, this stalwart of American-made, mid-century design with enduring appeal has been operating from premises in Sausalito, California ever since. Ten years ago, Heath was bought by Cathy Bailey and Robin Petravic, who have continued to maintain this heritage, whilst moving the business forward into the new century. I love what they do and how they do it.

In 2008, not long after I’d started Skinny laMinx, I was contacted by Cathy Bailey about placing a wholesale order for their shop in Sausalito. It was one of my first wholesale orders, and was followed with a request for me to design a Heath Ceramics tote bag, a tea towel and staff aprons, and a letterpressed greeting card produced by Satsuma Press.

Over the last 5 years, we’ve continued to work together, orders have grown, and my visit to the Heath factory in 2011 really brought home to me how fortunate Skinny laMinx is to have such a great client. Their support and encouragement was so massively important for my confidence as an emerging designer, and also, because Heath Ceramics is such a design destination, the presence of my goods in their stores has been brilliant for spreading the word about Skinny laMinx.

All this year, Heath has been celebrating Heath 10, as they look back on the ten years that Cathy and Robin have been steering Heath Ceramics into a new era. Their celebrations have included the people they’ve worked with, which is why my face is on the Heath Ceramics front page today (!!), and there’s an interview with me up on their blog too.

They’ve also been inviting some fab designers to be their Heath Pin Pals, with each of us creating a special Pinterest board upon which we’ve pinned things that have been inspiring us over the last 10 years.

I’ve had fun creating my Heath Pin Pals board, and hope you enjoy it too.

Congrats to everyone at Heath Ceramics, and thanks so much to Cathy and Robin for being such an encouragement and inspiration to me. xx