The story of Pewabic Pottery is a chronicle of resilience
It is intertwined with the history of Detroit
CHALLENGED BY A friend to replicate a piece of shimmering Babylonian earthenware, Mary Chase Perry had an idea. The ceramicist decided to fire her pieces three times, adding a spray of kerosene for the final blast: the oil burst into flames, combusting with the metal oxides in the glaze to create a swirl of metallic colours. In 1903, the same year Henry Ford established his motor company in Detroit, Perry co-founded a small pottery studio in the city. By 1909 she had perfected the iridescent glaze and the process of “fuming” that became the studio’s trademark.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Glaze of glory”
Culture February 19th 2022
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