About Us


ANDREW PEARCE

Andrew Pearce Bowls is born from a family of artisans who have, for generations, expressed their passion for creativity and design through mediums of clay, glass and wood. Pottery, glass blowing and woodworking have become the signatures of the Pearce family name through the vision, influence, and artistry of Philip (clay), Simon (glass) and Andrew Pearce (wood).

The story of Pearce family craftsmanship begins with Philip Pearce, Andrew’s grandfather. Philip moved his family to Ireland in the 1950’s and began working as a potter. His vision was to create pottery for everyday use. His work and designs led to Shanagarry Pottery, which he crafted by hand from locally sourced clay. Philip’s sons, Simon and Stephen, joined their father in his craft by digging clay and learning to form clay products. This began a strong family tradition of hand crafting housewares, with old world style and care for design and functionality. 

Pearce family of artisans

Although Steven Pearce remained in Ireland and continues the pottery business today, Simon Pearce, Andrew’s father, found himself drawn to various glass makers throughout Europe. In keeping with the tradition his father set, Simon sought to create glass designs for everyday use. In the 1980’s, Simon moved with his wife, Pia, to the United States to grow their glass blowing business. They found their iconic mill building in Quechee, Vermont, and established Simon Pearce glass.

Simon Pearce Mill Building Home of the Pearce family

Andrew Pearce was raised at the mill and in an environment of innovative design, creative thought, and always witnessing the use of raw materials to create products meant for people to gather and enjoy. He was encouraged by his parents to pursue his passions, so after working alongside his father for ten years, Andrew decided on a new path. “I wanted to do my own thing, I needed to make something with my hands, and I liked building machines. I wanted to try something that hadn’t been done before, and I knew I wanted to live in Vermont.” Andrew worked closely with a few New England woodworkers, learning along the way, and discovered his love for the craft of making wooden bowls. Shortly after his mastery of turning wood, Andrew Pearce Bowls was born.
Andrew Pearce Turning wooden bowls

In the beginning, Andrew focused on bowls. He was driven to bring the natural beauty of the wood grain to life in every bowl and crafted them with an eye for stability, sustainability and longevity. He soon added cutting boards and other home décor to his work leading to the innovative wooden designs available today.

Andrew designed, built, or modified the vast majority of the equipment and machinery used in his woodworking shop and has, from the inception of his business been focused on sustainability and minimizing the impact his craft has on the environment. Learn more about Sustainability

 

Our Process

As a company, we are committed to sustainable woodworking, so everyone can enjoy high quality wooden bowls, boards and more for generations. We focus on minimizing our impact on the environment by taking the extra steps to sustainably source trees, produce as little wood waste as possible, and plant one tree for every tree we use annually.  By doing this, we are offsetting our impact on the environment and reducing our carbon footprint. Learn more about One Tree Planted.

The Wood

Our logs come only from responsible loggers who use selective logging processes and are located in the Northeast (NY, PA, and VT). Each month we receive a supply of high quality logs at our workshop in Hartland, Vermont. 



The Cut       

Using Andrew’s innovative update on the classic “rough-out” lathe machine, woodworkers are able to cut several boards and bowls from a single block of wood. Once the boards are cut and removed, the remaining wood is cut in a nesting pattern producing small, medium, and large bowls in one section of wood. This minimizes waste and maximizes the use of the raw materials we process each month.

Drying the Wood

Our workshop is home to 7 drying kilns, where bowls and flat boards are carefully dried for a month or more, depending on the size of the wood. 

Hand-turned Bowls

Once dry, a master wood-turner takes a "bowl blank" and mounts it onto one of our finishing lathes. Using various gauges, they form the inside and outside of each bowl with a precise approach to curve and consistency. The wood's unique characteristics are allowed to come through, where no two are identical. The craftsperson then fine-tunes the interior and exterior of the bowl by sanding the surface for a perfectly smooth finished product. 

Wooden Boards & More

Just like the bowls, once dried, wooden boards and other products have to go through a sanding process to create the perfectly smooth surface that also helps to bring out the grain and unique features of each piece.



Finishing with Walnut Wood Oil

Each wooden product is finished with Andrew Pearce Refined Walnut Wood Oil. This premium, non-toxic, food-safe wood oil, and allergen-free walnut oil helps maintain the natural beauty and integrity of cherished wood items. This specially formulated walnut oil is high in linoleic acid and is heat-treated to make it oxidize faster. It penetrates deep into the wood grain and then hardens, giving the product a longer-lasting finish that will not evaporate like mineral oil finishes. Walnut oil hardens into a food-safe, satin finish. Once the finish is complete, the product is inspected and ready for sale.

Visit Us and See for Yourself

Stop by and see us in action through our viewing window. Open daily, our Hartland, Vermont workshop is located at 59 Woodstock Road (US Route 4), call 802-735-1884 x1 for more information. Please note, tours of the workshop are not allowed due to health and safety concerns, for both our guest and staff.