PR Collaborators | Sarah Wolf of Wolf Ceramics

PR Collaborators is a blog series highlighting hardworking individuals who help Portland Razor Co. be the best we can be. We consider the people and companies featured here to be integral to our success and hope our readers will show their support for these wonderful makers.

Several months ago we had the privilege of hosting local photographer and designer Connor Ebbinghouse at Portland Razor Co. Scrolling through his Instagram feed gives viewers a glimpse of Portland life and all the wonderful and interesting people we have the privilege of calling our neighbors. In browsing through Connor's beautiful galleries we came across one such neighbor, Sarah Wolf of Wolf Ceramics. We had been keeping our eyes open for the right collaborator to make shave dishes and scuttles for Portland Razor Co. and we were taken by the quality and aesthetic of Sarah's work immediately. We reached out to her and were delighted when she agreed to take on the project! As an added bonus, it's great to know that it is in fact possible to meet great people on the Internet!

Q: Tell our readers about your business. What do you do? What is your company story?
I started Wolf Ceramics about two years ago and shifted to working in my studio full time just over a year ago. Ceramics had been a hobby since grade school, but only a hobby. I studied Geochemistry in college and then almost went to graduate school for architecture. I kept coming back to clay because I love working with my hands and it is incredibly satisfying to make objects that will be well used. I decided to go back to school for ceramics instead of architecture and eventually chose to take the leap and start my own production studio. While gearing up to setup my own studio, I took part in a Mercy Corps small business program, taking business classes and participating in a matched savings grant program to help cover equipment costs. Now I spend my days in the studio and it is so fun. I am energized by exciting collaborations with other Portland businesses (Like Portland Razor Company!), which push me to try new things.

Q: Why Portland?
Portland is my home! I grew up here in Northwest Portland. I came back to Portland after leaving for 7 years, and now have a studio in the same building as my mother! She is an artist and has a painting studio just up the stairs from my work space.

Q: Is being in Portland important to you and your business? Why/why not?
Portland has been such a wonderful place for my business to grow, and for so many different reasons. Because I grew up here, I feel the support of my family and the community that a grew up with. But beyond that, the creative community in Portland is so welcoming, supportive, and collaborative. I am constantly meeting people who are doing interesting things and thinking of new ways that we can collaborate or work together in ways that are mutually beneficial. I have found the community of ceramic artists here to be kind and generous. The world of ceramics had also connected me with all sorts of other industries, from restaurants and coffee shops to florists and photographers.

Q: What sharp things do you use (knives, razors, axes, etc) at work?
What tools are your favorite to use? Trimming tools! After throwing on the wheel, we let work dry part way, and then flip it to trim and shape the bottom of the piece. I also use razor blades in the studio for all sorts of things, from cutting handles to the right size, to cleaning up glaze lines.

Q: Where do you look for inspiration?
I love textiles, in fact I may have a textile obsession. I also love drawing and playing with shapes and negative space. Sometimes I’ll peruse Instagram or Pinterest for patterns and shapes, start drawing, and just see where it takes me. I also love working from prompts. Sometimes a friend or business will come to me with a question or suggestion. Maybe they love a particular handle or wish that that their mug was different in some way. Maybe they need a particular tool and haven’t been able to find it anywhere. These sorts of conversations always get me thinking and often lead to new forms and new designs.

Q: We love your product. In your own words, what’s better about it than its big-box store competitors?
I find that I always enjoy using things more when I know where they came from and who made them. Its the same with coffee mugs as scuttle mugs. When I use a hand made object that I know was made with care, it often pushes me to be more thought full and intentional in what I am doing. I find my self taking more pleasure in the experience of using that object and even being more present in that moment.

Q: What is the most “Portland” thing to ever happen to you?
One day I found myself biking down the street along side a man on horseback.

Q: Do you straight shave? If not, would you consider it?
Nope, but maybe...

Q: What is one thing you wish more of your customers knew about you or your work?
I want to somehow show my customers more about the process that goes into making each piece. In fact, I have been working with a friend on a tiny short film that documents making one mug from start to finish! I think that ceramics often have a low perceived value, because you can go to Ikea and buy 10 perfectly matching, factory made mugs for $20 or $30. Its always a little nerve racking pricing new work, because I want things to be affordable and accessible to all sorts of people, but I also need to charge enough to make my business viable. When I know more about how something is made, and the complex challenges that the maker faces when creating it, I find my self feeling good about paying a fair price for the object and more inclined to treat it with care and make it last. I feel more inclined to own fewer, higher quality things.

Q:How can readers get in touch with you?
Check out my website wolfceramics.com or email me at sarah[at]wolfceramics.com!

New Scales on "Classic Razors"

We are happy to announce an all new scales profile for our Classic Straight Razors! Not only is the profile new, we are also updating our standard scales materials.

Over two years have passed since we launched our current line of classic straight razors. As fundamentally curious people we have continued to learn and grow, drawing inspiration from people, art, nature, and culture. Striving for constant improvement, our sense of product design has evolved with us, motivating play and experimentation with new concepts at Portland Razor Co. We came to the drawing board for a scales redesign with fresh eyes and did our best to pack everything we've learned about straight razors into this round of product updates.

The new scales on our Classic Straight Razors are leaner, meaner, and available in ivory acrylic, black acrylic, ebony, and Arizona desert ironwood

Shape

The front face of the scales has been slimmed down significantly to fit in the hand and between your fingers more easily. This aids in both stropping and certain shaving grips. In narrowing the profile, there is also a reduction of weight, offering excellent balance between the scales and the blade. The top profile of the scales has also been updated. All of our scales will now be made with a true wedge with a visually centered pin. The tang of all of our straight razors has also been updated: the tang is now tapered down the sides. Pinning the scales at the new tapered wedge and this tapered tang forms a perfect “bow shape” when viewing the razor from the top. These updates in the geometry make the straight razor not only look great, but feel superb in the hand.

Materials

We loved using our maple and walnut because the woods are naturally beautiful and evoke our home in the Pacific Northwest. It has come time, however, to retire these materials from our standard offerings. In seeking to make a truly heirloom quality product, we have settled on keeping our black and ivory acrylic and found some new materials that will indeed last a lifetime and make the best and last razor you will ever need. We are transitioning to a pair of dense and oily woods which are more weather resistant, more durable, and have better long-term dimensional stability: Arizona desert ironwood and ebony. To give the scales even more moisture resistance, we finish them off with a hard oil top coat. As of publishing this, the new scales are available for sale through the website.

As always, thank you to all of you for your continued support of Portland Razor Co. and we hope you all will enjoy our new and improved product!

The New Deluxe Strop

You may have noticed a few changes to our website and product offerings lately. Foremost among them is the new Deluxe Strop. 

Until recently, Portland Razor Co strops began with undyed and untreated veg-tanned cow side. We cut it to shape, dyed, oiled, and glass-burnished it all by hand before assembly. While this process assured the absolute highest standard of quality and performance in our strops, it was also very time-consuming.

In our pursuit of a better strop, we turned to the American tanneries from which we source our leather. Most of our leather comes from Hermann Oak Leather, a tannery which has been in business under several iterations since 1881! They turned us on to English bridle leather which has been treated and dyed in the English style, giving it an ultra-smooth consistency perfect for stropping. It is considered by many to be a superior strop leather and now we know why: it is supple and smooth with a light draw that breaks in well over time. 

Buying leather which has already been professionally treated and dyed at the tannery has a few key benefits. First, it is a huge time saver for us. Second, we find that more of the hide is free of troublesome blemishes, resulting in less waste. It has very similar characteristics to our original Deluxe Strop leather and can be further conditioned with neatsfoot oil. We will be rolling out new color options in the coming weeks!

English bridle leather is more expensive, but it looks great, saves time, and makes an exceptional and functional strop.  Taking all that into account, we knew that the only fair thing to do was offer the new English bridle strop at the same price as the original Deluxe Strop. Customers with outstanding strop orders will receive the new Deluxe Strop in English bridle leather, and customers who already have strops can purchase individual panels if they want to make the change. If you have any additional questions regarding the changes to our products, please feel free to email us.