“How lucky am I, that I not only get to make one-of-a-kind things, but I get to make them here, in the Berkshires?”—Michael Wainwright, founder of Michael Wainwright USA
Michael Wainwright’s pot-throwing business has been a roaring success in the Berkshires far longer than its current pot-growing neighbors. Having started in Brooklyn in 1991 as a one-person operation, Wainwright traces his passion for pottery back to his elementary school days when he made his first creations. “My mom still displays in her cabinet in Arizona the little duck and horse I made,” he smiles. “I’ve always loved getting my hands dirty making things,” he adds—part of the blessing of having parents who wisely sent him to an “artsy school” (Key School near Annapolis, Maryland) where they believed in honoring children’s innate curiosity for learning, discovering, and creating. In addition to art, Wainwright studied piano in his early years and recalls performing at the Kennedy Center with his school.
Gaining training and exposure through education
He originally planned to major in music in college but changed his mind mid-course, earning a B.F.A. in studio arts and a B.A. in literature (“because I love to read”) from Ohio Wesleyan, a small liberal arts school that (per its website) “inspires profound connections between intellectual and artistic exploration, theory and practice, creative freedom and professional discipline.” The ideal place for a pianist, artist, and avid reader! “My education gave me incredible training and exposure,” he states. “The people with whom I worked there had a profound impact on me.”
Wainwright went on to earn a master’s degree in fine arts from N.Y.U., where he received tuition, room, and a stipend in exchange for running the ceramics studio. During his years at N.Y.U., he worked as a production jeweler, mastered the use of precious metals, spent a semester in Italy, and apprenticed with a ceramic artist (Patrick Loughran). Looking back, he acknowledges “it was a good gig.” Beyond creativity, Wainwright, who was also a long-distance runner, developed patience and perseverance—good traits for a career as an artist.
After graduating, he rented a 2,000-square-foot loft space in Brooklyn where he lived and worked, creating pieces that he would cart to street fairs and flea markets around the city, both by hand truck and subway car.
Unbeknownst to Wainwright, his father sent a letter to John Loring, then a vice president at Tiffany & Co., introducing his son and one of his plate samples. That proud-parent gesture got the ball rolling, helping him land his first account, followed by a second at Henri Bendel, where he took advantage of the store’s open invitation to the public to meet with a buyer on the first Friday of each month. For the next few years, his name and sales continued spinning at other iconic stores like Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Barney’s New York, Marshall Field’s, Saks Fifth Ave, and Bergdorf Goodman.
Growing the business from the Berkshires
He and his wife, Leslie, relocated to the Berkshires in 2001 after 19 years in the city. He first worked out of his garage but later (in 2002) opened his first store at 8 Railroad Street in Great Barrington, a location he shared with Karen Allen Fiber Arts. In 2008, he moved to Jenifer House Commons—still as a one-person operation. But with everything done in-house, he acknowledges the rapid growth was difficult and compares managing the business to traveling through Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell.
So, in 2008, he took on investors. Although reporting to many different people was challenging, he credits them with helping him grow his business by 30 to 40 percent each year.
In June of 2012, the Michael Wainwright brand was acquired by Lenox China—”a big milestone” for the company. No longer needing the same space or staff, he downsized at that time to his current studio/store location at 964 Main Street (Route 7) in Great Barrington. “I was still designing, but [Lenox China] provided important infrastructure,” he states, adding that it was hard to be competitively priced by having 90 percent of his products made in the U.S. as opposed to China or elsewhere.
The Lenox China transaction allowed him to expand in terms of the design team, overseas manufacturing, and backroom operations. Still, like the bisque process (firing to a temperature that brings about a physical and chemical change to clay), that arrangement molded his business in new ways. For example, sales rose at Bloomingdale’s but declined with independent accounts. Weighing these changes, he realized that people regarded Michael Wainwright as a person, not a brand, and that he and his clients were missing his former personal touch.
Choosing his own path to brand identity
After carefully considering the advantages and disadvantages of being part of Lenox, Wainwright decided to leave in 2018 (an amicable parting), return to his Berkshire studio, and design new collections for independent merchants, rather than “making one thing for everyone.” A year later, a new management team acquired Lenox and divested its sub-brands. “I was lucky—I retained the rights to my name and got a year’s severance,” Wainwright notes. “If I had left a year later, it would have been a very different story.”
Having also retained his studio and storefront space at 964 Main Street (Peter Fasano was both landlord and close friend), “I essentially got my old company back,” he explains. Like grog (a sand-like substance that adds workability and strength to the clay), Wainwright’s Lenox China experience strengthened his business. “I learned a lot from those seven years, and I kept the global manufacturers Lenox introduced me to,” he says—including a glass manufacturer in Slovakia (the second-oldest in all of Europe), a clay manufacturer in Sri Lanka, and a flatware manufacturer in Vietnam. Most importantly, he gained a new appreciation for the fact that “no one knows your business better than you do. You’ve got to listen to your instincts and trust your experience and expertise.”
Responding to a COVID surge in home goods
As a result of the pandemic, online sales for the Michael Wainwright brand went up, as they did for the home goods industry overall. With more New Yorkers flocking to the Berkshires and more people everywhere seeking solace through online shopping, Wainwright opened a second retail store at 80 Railroad Street, just up the block and around the corner from his first store, in April 2021 to reach more buyers. The home-goods surge reached a 20-year high of more than $12.1 billion in April 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s monthly retail trade data, but began leveling out shortly after, as the housing market started to settle and inflation rose.
“It was a good idea to expand our presence to downtown G.B. during the pandemic,” Wainwright notes, “but more recently, it became clear that we were splitting, not doubling, our sales between the two locations, so it wasn’t smart to continue to staff two stores.” And so, this past week, he closed his Railroad Street store, returning happily to his studio and storefront on Main Street. Form follows function, as they say, and for now, returning to one location makes the most sense.
Making an indelible mark on the industry
As Cyndie Nester of Nester Home Design explains it, “Michael and I collaborated for over two decades in my fashion director retail days. What always stood out to me is the seamless mix of organic texture and elegant metallics that have a tone that works for all occasions. Michael is a master of technique that brings old-world design into the modern home.”
His pieces are known for their signature gold and platinum lustres—not just at the edges but as part of the design process—and for their uneven edges and fingerprints. Wainwright is also known for his constant innovation, taking inspiration from the Berkshire landscape (whose rolling hills and ridge lines can be seen on the top edge of his bowls and platters), famous artists (Gustav Klimt and others), famous buildings, and more. He used a fork and a meat tenderizer to create the sought-after border textures in his Berkshire Bowl collection and Manhattan Platter. His large dome series of bowls included the U.S. Capitol, St. Peter’s Basilica, and Hagia Sofia, with the bowl’s outside modeled from the building’s exterior and the inside from the cupola. (BTW, he says Lady Gaga bought the Hagia Sofia.) A current iteration is the Taj Mahal Bowl.
Wainwright has made an indelible mark in the industry with 72,848 Facebook followers, 400 SKUs, high-end limited edition art pieces, and expanding mid-range assortments. And he is still (always) inventing and evolving. “Pieces that we make here are only sold to independent stores,” he notes, “but I’m now trying to create a hybrid to offer to larger stores using pieces manufactured overseas but hand-glazed here in the studio.” In addition, he introduces a new collection two times a year and shows his design samples at major shows in the states, including the Atlanta Gift Show and Shoppe Object in New York.
Beyond the creative aspect of designing pieces, there is a scientific aspect that requires sending pieces to the lab and carefully adjusting the temperature and glaze until he finds the right combination. He points out that keeping things from breaking is a constant challenge, not only while they are being fired but up to a month after. “My three-phase kiln (which reaches temperatures of 2,300 degrees) requires more electricity than my entire house!” And the intricate glazing and cooling process demands vigilant human and computer monitoring.
Throwing credit to his team and the community
“I wish I could just be creating in my studio, but the reality is that running the business means spending a lot of time behind the computer,” he concedes. Luckily, Wainwright has a strong family team working for him, including three employees who come in after hours to pack the fragile items carefully for shipping. “It’s been harder finding people in recent years, but I’ve been very fortunate,” he admits.
His tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating website credits Bette Demeri (a stylist in New York City for 10 years who moved to the Berkshires in 2000) as “being responsible for most things at Michael Wainwright U.S.A.”—including providing customer support and creating displays—as well as Humberto Perez, “packer extraordinaire and weekend store worker,” and Charlie Breslin, manager of national sales.
Wainwright also loves the Berkshire community—something you sense immediately from the time he generously spends with visitors to his studio. Summertime is the busiest season, and sales definitely draw out the crowds.
However, the most beloved event is the annual “Raku party” (or low-fire day), which draws several hundred people from far and near to the studio grounds on the Saturday of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Per the advertisement, “This is a free event: I supply bowls for you to decorate, and we fire them right there and then for you to take home. Fun for kids and adults alike.” There is also free grilled pizza from The Old Inn on the Green and ice cream from SoCo Creamery.
Given all his success, Wainwright appears to have reached his “maturing temperature”—the temperature at which a glaze exhibits its best qualities. And he still loves what he does. “I design everything myself, and I make things for a living. It doesn’t get better than that!”
Unless, of course, you also get to make them here in the Berkshires.
