Cathy Bailey of HEATH Ceramics has appeared on this blog for a number of years as a friend and a colleague. After loving her work (and her) from afar, we were fortunate to collaborate with HEATH Ceramics to produce a line of table and dinner wares that were launched last fall.

Cathy (and her husband, Robin) and I share much of the same passion about design, craft, and local production. Next week, Cathy and I will share the stage at the Standard Talks. This coming Tuesday, Alabama Chanin presents MAKESHIFT: Shifting Thoughts on Design, Fashion, Craft, and DIY, our first event in a series of many as we continue a conversation on the intersection of design, fashion, craft, and DIY.

Heath Ceramics: An impressive view from within from Heath Ceramics on Vimeo.

Cathy plans to speak on “making” and how to learn from and explore these experiences. She might also bring a few surprises for the audience.

About Cathy:

In 2003, together with her husband, Robin Petravic, Catherine purchased Heath Ceramics at the end of a quest to build a more satisfying and tangible design life that brought back together the aspects of designing and making. Since that time, Catherine has led the company to become recognized as a design leader and model for bringing together manufacturing, design, and responsible business practices as a combination leading to long-term business viability.

Today she works to steer Heathʼs concepts, product and brand direction while honoring the history and craft of Edith Heath. In addition to overseeing all design, PR, and guiding Heathʼs exposure, she also shares responsibility for setting the overall company direction and vision. Under her direction, Heath Ceramics has received the Henry award from the California Museum of Design in 2007; Bon Appetitʼs Designer of the Year award in 2008; and has been a finalist for the Cooper-Hewitt National Design award in corporate achievement in 2011 and 2009.

Prior to her work at Heath, Catherine founded a product design consultancy – One & Co. (1995) and grew the company into an industrial design consultancy with new focus that looked at products from a lifestyle perspective while providing engineering to back up their innovations. She became known for her ability to provide solutions that connected products to culture and made them desirable to customers. Her clients ranged from Microsoft and Palm to Burton Snowboards and Apple. Prior to founding One and Co., Catherine was a footwear designer at Nike in Portland Oregon.

Catherine holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Design from Syracuse University, and also has studied environmental design and fine arts.

From The Scout Magazine:

ICFF has returned and with it Design Week NYC. It’s actually unclear when Design Week starts and ends but events hover around the duration of ICFF which is from May 19-22. Pop Up shops, temporary showrooms and galleries are all happening during the 5 plus days. Most of the attention will be surrounding the third annual NoHo Design District organized by Sight Unseen’s Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer. Here are some of the highlights.

- Roll & Hill temporary showroom at 2 Cooper Square
- Hotel California at The Standard East Village
- Mondocane presents an exhibition of historically relevant children’s chairs at Partners & Spade.
- Areaware at 22 Bond

Other events in the area also include Makeshift (May 15-19). A series of workshops that include Alabama Chanin, Billy Reid, Krrb, Hugo & Marie, Partners & Spade, Maria Cornejo & CFDA.

When Andrew Wagner was asked to moderate the MAKESHIFT panel conversation as part of New York Design Week 2012, he jokingly insisted that he be considered MC rather than moderator. That’s exactly the type of robust, experienced personality I look forward to sharing the stage with next week at the Standard Talks, as we discuss the intersection of design, fashion, craft, and DIY.

We’re happy to introduce Andrew and welcome his participation in MAKESHIFT. His long- running list of big DIY ideas and achievements makes him a veteran in that community. As “What You Make of It” columnist for the  New York Times, he has recently delved instructions on how to turn an old rusty bicycle into a beautiful hanging lamp- Isamu Noguchi style- and how to repurpose egg carton trays into stunning and sturdy stools.

Here is more on Andrew’s accomplishments:

Andrew Wagner is the current Editorial Director of Krrb, a hyperlocal/mega-global marketplace run by design agency Area 17. He hails from California by way of Connecticut. After graduating from Connecticut College with a degree in environmental psychology he jumped headlong into his editorial career in San Francisco helping found Dodge City Journal, LIMN, and Dwell. In 2006 he headed back east, this time to New York City, to help reinvent the august publication, American Craft. Prior to joining Area 17 he served as the editor-in-chief/chief brand officer of ReadyMade.

He is the current “What You Make of It” columnist for the New York Times in which he digs through the refuse of New York with the goal of turning trash into treasure.

Andrew has also penned the forwards for Princeton Architectural Press’ Handmade Nation and Chronicle Books’ It’s Lonely in the Modern World: The Essential Guide to Form, Function, and Ennui from the Creators of Unhappy Hipsters as well as chapters for Phaidon’s Vitamin Green series. When he’s not working on Krrb’s global domination you can probably find him playing second base for the semi-professional baseball team, the Downtown Bulls.

We’d also like to thank Krrb for partnering with Alabama Chanin and Partners & Spade in CRAFTING DESIGN: A MAKESHIFT Chair Workshop. They will be supplying chairs for participants to craft and create.