Norden x The Granite Porcelain Candle

We are excited to announce a collaboration between Norden and Portland, OR based ceramics studio, The Granite. With backgrounds in metalsmithing, ceramics, and interior design, Meg Drinkwater and Megan Perry bring unique skill sets to their work - creating coveted hand painted pieces that will fit into any curated home. We caught up with Meg and Meg for a a quick chat about what they are up to.

Tell us about Portland, why did you both choose to make your home there and in what way does it feel like a good home for The Granite?
We’ve both lived in Portland for about 10 years; Megan arriving from Seattle, WA in 2006 and myself from Eugene, OR where I had studied at University of Oregon. It was a year or so before we met while working at a bar. I’m not sure either of us thought the move would be so permanent but we ended up sticking around and it is a great city. Of course, like a lot of places, it is changing a great deal and we are a bit apprehensive about the scale and speed of the change. However, it is a city full of creatives who are working in all mediums: music, food, design, craft, art, literature…you name it.  It is exciting and inspiring to be surrounded by so many curious individuals who are invested in breaking the mold.  Here, we are also surrounded by many other women-owned businesses.  We love being a part of this community of driven, intelligent and strong-willed women.

What roles do you have in the studio?
In the studio we share almost all the tasks related to production but we do fall into preferred routines for some duties, ie: Megan does most of the painting (and all of the dots) and I do most of the wet clay clean up.  We are both pretty independent people so we have found it important to find ways to each be independently responsible for various aspects of the business. 

How do you sustain new growth in your business without spreading yourself too thin? What do you do to keep things in balance?
Mostly we just spread ourselves too thin.  Just kidding (sort of).  Honestly this is a theme that is a constant struggle for us as I think it is for many small and/or emerging businesses.  Scale and growth are constant topics of discussion with other business owners.  Having boundaries and being selective about which projects we are willing to take on is a great asset and is a skill we are getting better at but still developing.
 
Are there any events or projects you are looking forward to? 
We are experimenting with outsourcing some non-ceramics projects to local craftspeople.  We hope to expand our line while also having more creative freedom as designers.

Shop the Norden x The Granite candles HERE.