In 2003, when my wife, Catherine, and I bought Heath Ceramics, a home goods company founded in Sausalito, California in 1948, we seized on the opportunity to embrace a different approach to business.

As designers, we were of course inspired by the chance to design and produce beautiful products and to be involved in that process from start to finish. But in what was an intentionally contrarian response to the Bay Area’s move toward tech, we also saw it as a unique opportunity to nurture a company that was an anomaly—a privately held manufacturing business with a holistic view of creating timeless products of value. Also core to our decision was the idea of setting an example of running a business not just as a vehicle for making money for its owners but as an organization that serves a purpose in the community by providing jobs and a sense of pride in craftsmanship.