courtesy Danforth Pewter
Danforth Pewter's store on Church Street in Burlington
Danforth Pewter, a Middlebury company that makes metal figurines and other housewares, has purchased a Fair Haven pottery company and plans to expand into ceramics.
CEO Bram Kleppner said he and his staff had been looking for another craft company to acquire for a while. Although Danforth’s main business is in pewter ornaments, the design team has also been incorporating wood into its merchandise.
“As much as we love pewter and think it’s the most amazing material ever, we’ve been looking for other textures and colors,” Kleppner said.
Caren Helm, the owner of Pizzazz Pottery in Fair Haven, was hoping to retire and sell her company to a buyer close enough that her four employees could work for the new owner, Kleppner said. Danforth is applying for a $25,000 state grant to help renovate a 100-year-old warehouse at its Middlebury factory to accommodate the workers.
“With a little bit of imagination, it was possible to consider removing walls and getting rid of some piles of junk that have been piling up in our warehouse for decades,” Kleppner said. “Now we’re figuring out where the potters' wheels and kilns will all go.”
Kleppner expects to have Danforth-made pottery on the shelves of the company’s five stores by Valentine’s Day.
Sales are strong at Danforth, a company that Middlebury College graduate Fred Danforth started in a Woodstock barn in 1975, when pewter tableware was in vogue. Danforth doubled in size in the 1980s after it became the exclusive licensee for Disney’s Winnie the Pooh figures.
Today, about 40 people work in the company’s Middlebury offices and factory and in its retail stores. Danforth has retail shops in Middlebury, Woodstock, Waterbury, and on Church Street in Burlington. Its other stores are in Portland, Maine; Portsmouth, N.H.; Williamsburg, Va.; and Mystic, Conn. The company hopes to open another store, in Manchester, Vt., by late next month.
Kleppner said Danforth’s sales are up slightly this year over last. Most of its business is in jewelry and holiday ornaments, though a few years ago a newly introduced gnome figurine was an unexpected hit. Danforth's designers then created more gnomes and a home for gnomes.
“People apparently really like gnomes,” Kleppner said.
Helm sold her mugs, bowls, plates and cups wholesale to outlets such as the Vermont Country Store and King Arthur Baking. After the Danforth pottery workshop is up and running, her ceramic designs will appear in Danforth’s catalogue; Kleppner said the company will slowly introduce new pottery designs.
At some point, Danforth will start using clay and metal together in housewares — keeping in mind that clay is fired at a much higher temperature than pewter’s melting point.
“You have to combine them afterwards, or you’ll end up with a puddle of pewter,” Kleppner said.
Correction, October 13, 2023: A previous version of this story misreported the location of the company's newest store.