Brooklyn's Makers Turn Handcraft Into a Serious Export Business
Ceramicists, furniture builders, and small-batch producers are shipping the 'Brooklyn-made' label far beyond the borough.
The "Brooklyn-made" label has become a global export, and the borough's makers are treating their crafts like the businesses they've become. From ceramics studios in Gowanus to furniture shops in Red Hook, small producers are scaling up to meet demand from across the country and abroad.
The fictional studio Kiln & Company started with one potter selling at weekend markets and now employs fifteen people fulfilling wholesale orders for hotels and restaurants nationwide. Its founder says the hardest transition was thinking like a manufacturer without losing the handmade quality customers pay for.
Shared workspaces and maker collectives have smoothed the path, letting artisans split the cost of kilns, tools, and storefronts. The result is a small but resilient corner of the city's economy built on things people make with their hands.
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