Heath Ceramics, one of the few remaining mid-century American potteries, has been making tableware and tile for over a half-century in its Sausalito, California factory. In 2003, husband and wife team, Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey purchased Heath Ceramics with a mission to revitalize the company, by placing a strong emphasis on design, handcrafted techniques, and the reinvigoration of the company’s designer-maker legacy. Its dinnerware is used in the country’s top restaurants, such as Chez Panisse, Brasserie 44 at the Royalton Hotel, and The Slanted Door. Its tile graces renowned buildings, such as the Pasadena Norton Simon Museum, and the UC Berkeley East Asian Library, by architects Tod Williams + Billie Tsien.
Heath Ceramics is a 2009 Finalist for Corporate Achievement in the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards, and is represented in the permanent collections of museums, such as the MOMA and LACMA. Edith Heath, an influential potter and designer of the Modernist era, founded Heath Ceramics in 1948. Heath Ceramics’ first satellite studio-retail location, Los Angeles, opened in fall 2008, and the second satellite and smallest of the three, the Heath marketplace opened in the Ferry Building Marketplace in April 2010.