Factory Tours

Welcome in! At Heath, we manufacture all of our ceramics in two small Bay Area factories. In our original 1959 building in Sausalito and our San Francisco tile facility, work is centered around Edith and Brian Heath's founding values: design integrity, material resourcefulness, and human-scale production. The result is beautiful, useful objects that last. Come visit us and see how we keep the wheels spinning!

Sausalito Dinnerware Factory Tour

Among the houseboats and artist studios of Sausalito is Heath's original 1959 factory, where our dinnerware shapes are still formed, glazed, trimmed and fired.

Register for a factory tour of Sausalito.

San Francisco Tile Factory Tour

In the urban heart of San Francisco’s Mission District is our tile factory and showroom, along with the Heath Clay Studio and a collective of designer-maker studios.

Register for a factory tour of San Francisco.

What to expect

Tour groups are limited in size and require advance RSVP. Each tour lasts approximately 1 hour. Admission is $15.

For safety, all participants must be aged 5 or older. Closed-toe shoes are required. Protective eyewear will be provided while in the factory area. At the end of the tour, we welcome you into the showroom to browse and shop!

Heath Sausalito Factory

CLAY MAKING

In the Mix

Take a peek inside our clay making drum, and you'll find Edith Heath's proprietary clay formula mixing with water to form the clay mixture called "slip"; To reduce waste, dry clay trimmings are placed back into the drum to be repurposed and reused.

Heath Sausalito Factory

Heath San Francisco Factory

PUGGING

Through the Press

The newly mixed clay is added to the pug mill to get it in tip top shape for forming. The vacuum chamber of the mill removes air and then extrudes the clay out into different shapes for forming.

Heath San Francisco Factory

TILE FORMING

To the Cookie Cutter

This is when the tile-making and dinnerware-making processes diverge. Flat sheets of clay are extruded from the Pug Mill and cut into 14-inch squares. Each flat then goes to the Cookie Cutter, a machine that uses custom dies to cut the clay sheets into any tile shape, from rectangles to triangles to hexagons. All clay offcuts are promptly returned to the Pug Mill to be extruded again.

Heath San Francisco Factory

Heath Sausalito Factory

DINNERWARE FORMING

Jolly Good

Contrary to how tile is formed, dinnerware is formed using molds, and a Jigger or Jolly. The process begins with a plug, or block of clay, extruded from the Pug Mill, then placed into a spinning mold. A custom profile tool attached to a hand lever is lowered as the mold spins, shaping the clay. The pieces dry in their mold, are meticulously trimmed, and then bisque fired.

Heath Sausalito Factory

GLAZING

Hand Sprayed and Dipped

After an initial firing, pieces are glazed one of two meticulous ways, dipped or sprayed. In the dipping method, glaze is mixed specifically to resist dripping. First, glaze is poured into the piece and the excess is poured out. To coat the outside, the piece is dipped into a bucket of glaze and the foot is wiped clean. Pieces that are sprayed are placed inside a Glazing Booth, then sprayed with a predetermined weight of glaze.

Heath Sausalito Factory

FIRING

In the Kiln

Once the foot is wiped of glaze, the dinnerware and tile are ready go into the kiln for their final firing. Heath clay is designed to be fired at a low temperature, saving energy and allowing for a broad range of glazes and finishes, while maintaining the integrity and durability of the ware.

Heath Sausalito Factory

QUALITY CONTROL

Final Steps

Before dinnerware is placed on the showroom shelves and tiles are packed and shipped, our Quality and Control team inspects each piece, looking out for glaze inconsistencies or cracks in the ware.

Heath Sausalito Factory

Observation Hours:

Address:

Enter at the Boiler Room (just around the corner from our SF showroom entrance).

P: 415 361 5552

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Factory Tours