A note on Green-ness

It has been our practice for more than thirty years to minimize all sources of pollution and to maximize energy savings by good engineering practices. We have never attempted  to make a virtue of this; it was really just common sense, and in many ways, the safest and most cost effective method of doing business. For instance, our ceramic facility in producing sconce and lamp bodies and molds for glass forming produces almost no waste. Scrap clay from the process is put back into our pug mill and reformed into plastic clay ready to be used again. Lubricating and cleaning water is processed to separate both the clay and water for reuse. Should there be wastage after the clay is fired, it is used in land fill locally for its stabile and non-polluting mineral content. It is, after all, simply rock.

Glass scrap is reused in fusing processes, and what cannot be used for that can be ground up for stable and non-polluting land fill.  Metal leaf left over is collected and used for our mixed-metal leaf finishes.  All metal scrap, aluminum, steel brass and bronze is carefully sorted and reused where possible. Where reuse is not an option, the metals are carefully recycled back to the appropriate smelters.

Our kilns, both gas and electrics, are made of highly insulating refractory which minimizes heat loss and reduces consumption of energy resources. Computer control of kilns ensures repeated success and minimizes wasteful heat cycles.

On other matters, our studio maximizes natural daylight through the use of sky lights.  Our parking spaces and driveways are of permeable materials.  All ambient light and most task lights in our studio are either fluorescent or LED.  Space heat is provided by a super-efficient gas furnace. Exterior lighting is all aimed down for dark-sky effect.

Rest assured that we are using best business practices in reducing pollution and energy consumption. Cost savings in this regard also contribute to keeping our prices down. As better techniques and materials become available, we will be ready to adopt them into our manufacturing processes.