Growlers

An Army of Growlers

Back when we were at the Pittsburgh Public Market, our friend and neighbor suggested we sell growlers of iced tea for the summer. We priced the typical glass ones but could never go through with actually purchasing them.  One day, The Tea Lady conceived the idea to make the growlers pottery pieces.  She put out a tweet and found Garick Tai Lee.

Garick is a talented pottery artist who works out of the Union Project. His love of simplistic Asian forms fit in well with ours. Garick designed the shape of the Growler to be similar to a Japanese gourd.  It was gorgeous, but had one flaw.  How would people carry it?  So The Tea Lady tweeted again but this time looking for someone who works in resalvaged materials.  People suggested local artist Dave Calfo.  He accepted the job and we were off!

Both of these men took a gamble on this project.  We weren’t sure how these would be received. After all, the cost was much higher than the traditional glass growlers, but they were each hand thrown and fitted with handles from a well known local artist.  We tweeted, face booked and emailed our patrons and sold out within 24 hours.

Over the summer we filled growlers each week at the Pittsburgh Public Market.  Those with our growlers got a discount.  It was so successful, we are releasing a new round of growlers when we can.  Each round is slightly different in design.  Follow us on Facebook or Twitter or sign up for our e-newsletter to be sure you don’t miss them!

Because we are no longer full time at the Pittsburgh Public Market, we have been working on places to fill growlers.  The Public Market will definitely be a location, but we are also searching for other places.  We would like to be able to reach as many clients as possible.