spotlight on the clé guild

clé's own contribution to the library of prima materia

we're exploring all things guild, our in-house team of artisans bringing unprecidentented artistry and science to a prima materia: brick. every day at the guild is a bit of an adventure, the opposite of a tightly engineered, set-it-and-forget-it production process.

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the guild is the opportunity to take our time, think, try, experiment, fail, plunge down rabbit holes, fail, try again, and finally... yes. join us for a tour behind the scenes of the clé guild with eric vandermolen, as he discusses some of his process for creating new collections.

go behind the scenes →

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It all started when clé founder Deborah Osburn resolved to create a glazed thin brick that could hold its own in any space.

More on the history of the guild →

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learn more about guild manager and resident mad scientist eric vandermolen in this in-depth interview: where science meets artistry.

meet eric vandermolen →

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spotlight on the clé guild

clé's own contribution to the library of prima materia

we're exploring all things guild, our in-house team of artisans bringing unprecidentented artistry and science to a prima materia: brick. every day at the guild is a bit of an adventure, the opposite of a tightly engineered, set-it-and-forget-it production process.

the guild is the opportunity to take our time, think, try, experiment, fail, plunge down rabbit holes, fail, try again, and finally... yes. join us for a tour behind the scenes of the clé guild with eric vandermolen, as he discusses some of his process for creating new collections.

go behind the scenes →

cle-tile-brick-new-california-moodboard-factory-color-glaze-swatch-v21.webp__PID:d6a9041b-1c74-438e-a8a1-d853ea08ff04

It all started when clé founder Deborah Osburn resolved to create a glazed thin brick that could hold its own in any space.

More on the history of the guild →

5_3c96dcfa-15dc-4f29-8de8-6e3939365da4.jpg__PID:960a7544-9778-4c53-9d30-50857ae13cbb

learn more about guild manager and resident mad scientist eric vandermolen in this in-depth interview: where science meets artistry.

meet eric vandermolen →

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the heart of the guild is in the interactions between glaze and clay, science and art, artist and material. creating new surfaces on minimally processed clay is an iterative, serendipitous process and it takes serious know-how (and time) to develop each collection.

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our deliberate glaze explorations of what a new neutral could be were about finding the perfect balance to create the color, but also dialing in the chemistry for the ideal surface quality. the glaze you apply to a clay body is nothing like the glaze that emerges from the kiln, and that firing process can be lengthy — and unpredictable. Unlike painting, we don’t know what we’ve done until well after the fact.

the story behind the Work Study glazes →

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at clé, our conviction is that pinks are the new neutrals. And thus, it inevitably followed that a selection of taupe-pinks would complete the circle. but, what is a clé pink, and how would we invent it? Our first hurdle in creating these new surfaces was in simply finding means of coaxing this finicky sector of the color wheel into our glazes. 

more on the path to pinks →

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As we embarked on our painstaking, deliberate glaze explorations of what a new neutral could be, some initial experiments began to remind us of the colors and feel of “work” wear: utility gear, and uniforms from the military to Carhartt, durable clothing in rugged textiles and muted tones.

a study in neutrals, an homage to workmanship →

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the clay used in New California is drawn from a single source and minimally processed. When fired, the unrefined minerals interact, giving every tile a truly unique expression of the earth from which it is made. The glazes are formulated of natural stone powders and oxides, which, in concert with the clay, create a range of textural and chromatic expressions when fired in our state-of-the-art Blaauw kiln.

Crafted by clé, inspired by our home →

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where it all began... explorations in black and white in matte and gloss.

Guild Fundamentals: Classic. (Classics.) →

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