Categories: Retail & Shopping Arts, Culture & Entertainment
1918 Bacon StSan Diego, CA 92107
Telephone: 925-899-3443
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Our mission is to be a part of a transparent chain of commerce, to produce wares that you are proud to use with care daily, and to work with other makers and doers that push us to dream of better.
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Maek Ceramics was the result of a university pottery class, when Ryan Shoemaker and Michaela Maes sat next to each other. That semester when the boys from OB Beans reached out to Ryan to make the wares for their new cafe, Michaela saved his ass for the first time in a long line of ass-saving that continues to this day. They had no idea what they had gotten themselves into.
The next year, a few dates and a lot of premarital commitment later, Maek started in the foothills of Clayton, CA. The Clayton studio space is part of an old barn shared with the best carpenter ever to grace planet earth (Michaela’s dad), which directly correlates to the amount of classic rock they listened to.
In the spring of 2019, immediately after getting married, Maek moved to its first brick and mortar retail shop and studio in sunny San Diego, opening the pink door to the public in June of 2019. The store and studio are intentionally located in the same room to remind them to lead with the process. This year Ryan and Michaela are excited to announce Maek Friends, a membership based ceramic collective. Its an inclusive community studio with a focus on allowing space for healthy practices.
Maek is guided by a core set of principles: "Be candid with our ethos, curate a line of goods that we believe in, and collaborate with other folks who are doing good work, all with the goal to care more about less." In light of that, Maek tries to produce and package in an environmentally friendly and grateful manner. The studio uses an electric kiln and a variation of core glazes, with a selection of rotating seasonal colors to keep production streamlined. "Our aim is to make wares that we would use ourselves, which will work as good as they look. And we carefully select who we partner with in order to foster a system of production that can be trusted, both by us and our customers. Thanks for your support, we really hope you love your pots."
