Mother Stories
Inside the Sleek Tahoe Cabin of Heath Ceramics’ Cathy Bailey
Written by Erin Feher
Photography by Michelle Drewes
Jan 28, 2020
Many of you probably know and love Heath Ceramics—the company’s swoon-worthy tile and dreamy dinnerware almost always tops the wishlist of anyone diving into a home makeover, wedding registry, or kitchen upgrade. But not everyone knows the story behind the Northern California brand’s rebirth nearly two decades ago. Cathy Bailey was a star industrial designer and creative director (she was handpicked to join Nike while still in college, moving to Portland the day after graduation), who, with her partner Robin Petravic, was looking for the next creative challenge. It came when they stumbled into the 50-year-old ceramics factory founded by Edith Heath. The Sausalito, CA-based company was struggling, but Cathy and Robin immediately understood the value of the handmade tiles, plates, mugs, and vases that were being produced there and set out to carry on Edith’s legacy. They bought the company and breathed in new life, while still staying true to the values of making beautiful things with good intentions—the couple’s “slow business” approach holds creativity, quality, and transparency above all else. And it’s been working: Since Cathy and Robin took over, the company has grown from 25 employees to 276, from $1.2 million in sales to $30 million, and added a lofty creative hive, second factory, and showroom in San Francisco’s Mission District. Cathy, who lives with her husband and teenage son, Jasper, just up the road from the original Sausalito factory, recently bought and renovated a family cabin near Tahoe, where they can enjoy some much-needed downtime and focus on family and creative pursuits. Cathy recently invited us over one especially snowy day, showed us around, and dished on everything from growing a business, to raising a teen boy, to designing a room with good social vibes. Click through the slideshow below for the full tour and interview.
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- "We started searching for this cabin when our son Jasper was six years old. I really wanted him to have more nature in his life, spend time in the snow, and just be able to be outside in the trees. I wanted him to be at home outdoors. I dreamed of spending summers in the woods, playing in the creek and swimming in the lake. We bought the house in 2012, when Jasper was seven, and even though it needed some design and functional updates, we started using it as soon as we had the keys. This cabin fulfilled my dream of revamping a modest cabin in the woods into a space that lured our friends and extended family to gather and play with us. We realized that having a place like this gives us so much more time to spend with family and friends. When we are at home, we’ll have friends over for dinner, and a few hours later we’re left with loads of dishes, but at the cabin, we get to hang out for several days and nights at a time; we cook together and then all do the dishes together! Jasper is 14 now, and it’s bitter sweet, because we did fulfill our dreams, but the time went quickly, and now we have a different routine."
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- "This space does connect with the aesthetic elsewhere in our lives, but it also is aesthetically connected to its unique environment—it's a cabin in the woods and I wanted that to come through in the design. It was built in 1973, and there’s lots of inspiration from that era in the interior, which translated into lots of wood with some bright pops of reds and yellows. The living spaces are designed to support a simple, beautiful life, surrounded by design, and promote honest-to-goodness presence and enjoyment!"
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- "Of course! We can’t live without projects like these, even though we often say we want to. This cabin had aesthetics that were a little dusty, but the architecture was in good shape. Houses in this neighborhood are hard to come by, and this one had a swimming pond nearby and a mountain creek in the backyard, so it was exactly what we wanted to find and we were happy to take on some projects. The project was part renovation, part preservation. We modernized the systems by putting in efficient heating and fixtures, and changed out the finishes where they were worn or just non functional, which included bringing in some Heath tile, of course. I added lofts and built-in furnishings to make the space more purposeful and highly functional, and so that we could have two other families stay with us when we were up for it. The overall goal was it being cozy over grand. I wanted every room and every corner to be an intimate and engaging experience."
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- A beloved coffee table made from an old tile board from the Heath Ceramics showroom.
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- "I am always trying to think about how an object that I love and want to put into the house is going to age. I guess starting with something old, in a way, is a bit of a shortcut—if it’s old and it’s aged well, there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to continue to age well. It’s already gone though that kind of trend-resistance phase. I’m very meticulous about my approach, and I get nervous if before I start a project, I don’t already have that singular thing that I am going to build the design around. There’s a huge sense of relief when I find that piece to build around...but then it sets up the next puzzle. My philosophy is about making the biggest impact with a minimum of structural change, because big structural changes mean $$$ and hurt the sustainability aspect of a project. I’m big on color, refinishing and repurposing, and adding in objects that I really connect with and will last forever."
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- Cathy wears a Rachel Comey sweater, Sophie D'Hoore wide-leg denim pants, a Sophie D'Hoore scarf, Marni boots, and vintage turquoise rings.
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- "I notice that when our space is really working, everything is working. I mean, the whole family dynamic is working. When there are places for us to work together or play a game together, and the surroundings actually inspire that to happen—that’s what I’m always trying to create. This living room has achieved that. By designing a built-in couch in the tiny room, we can sit at least six adults and many kids on the floor. The room sets up the evening for board games or movie watching. I am also always trying to manage the technology: Our house is set up specifically so there is no technology in the bedrooms, and that hugely improves our quality of life. We watch movies on a retractable screen and projector that I designed into the space. Since you have to go through a few steps to set it up, it’s very intentional when we watch something."
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- "As I mentioned, for me, developing a style for a place always starts with something that I have a really strong connection to. My favorite pieces in this space are the walnut dining table made by Dave Ball from Oakland, the red tile coffee table that we made out of an old tile board and some vintage steel legs, and my Garza Marfa leather chair!"
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- "Thinking bigger than me! The journey does not allow you to stagnate!"
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- "The negative parts of our world. And trying to not screw up in helping my son transition into the larger world and make decisions that will ultimately make him a happy and heathy human."
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- The cabin offers quality time for creative pursuits.
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- "For a minute, when reality set in that there was going to be a baby in our lives, I thought it would be more comfortable to have a girl, because I know what it’s like to be one. Like I mentioned, that was for about a minute, before we knew we were having a boy. I had thought through the pros and cons of either and realized that it didn’t matter. There are so many other things to worry about, and there is no reason why either gender should be the source of any worry."
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- "I’m not sure if the last name choice was the best one, but at the time if felt right to skip the middle name, since we were giving him a hyphenated last name and that was enough of a mouthful. I never changed my last name, and at the time we weren’t married, so the hyphenated merger of our last names felt good. Is it a bit unwieldy for him to carry around, but I think we’re all used to it at this point. 'Jasper' was a name that we both liked, and we didn’t have any Jasper’s in our life that we knew personally, which felt like a good thing, like there wasn’t baggage attached to it. Yet, there were Jaspers out in the world that we had positive associations with: Jasper Johns, Jasper Morrison, Jasper Alberta, and the Jasper (the beautiful stone!)—there seemed to be good energy emitting from the name, and we liked the sound of it."
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- "He is 14 for another month! He started high school this year and decided to go to boarding school. That was traumatic for me personally, while I realized it was an opportunity he deserved if he wanted it. He goes to Midland, a small school about 45 minutes from Santa Barbara in Los Olivos. It’s on 3,000 acres and there are about 90 kids. The kids live two to a cabin, there’s a farm, horses, and the students are the facilities staff—they do all the cleaning and basic maintenance, including making the fires to heat the wood-fired showers. It’s preparing the kids for college, but also to be part of a community and contribute to it. So, he’s into all that, and creating new friendships that he wouldn’t have if he were home all the time. He’s into trains, always has been, since he was two. For most kids I think this fades away with the Lego obsession, but for him it’s grown, and he’s into photographing and tracking down trains. We ride them a lot, too, like all over the country. I’m very much of an expert on how to travel on Amtrak—it’s a real skill! You’ll find Jasper @trainswesee, and that’s a whole other topic. I really don’t think kids need social media in their lives, unless they are doing it with their parents, and even then they don’t need it."
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- "I remember being in first or second grade and telling my friends I would not be having kids. I just couldn’t imagine it. After that, I really didn’t think about it much until I was about 30, and then it suddenly felt like it was really important to me, though I didn’t have a partner, so that needed to be figured out first. Then suddenly I was 35 and it felt and I felt like 'What the hell have I been doing, this is important and I really want it to happen yesterday.'"
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- "It took a while. I was 36 when I got focused on starting a family, got pregnant at 37, felt horrible in the beginning, lost weight at first, and then by the time food was appealing again I started feeling very uncomfortable. I had high blood pressure, ended up with preeclampsia, and had to be induced at 35 weeks. And because it was urgent to deliver, it had to be natural childbirth. I would not recommend that! The whole experience was not ideal, and though I had hoped to have two children, by the time I felt ready to have another the window was closing, and it never happened. When I turned 42, I stopped worrying about having another baby and started to enjoy what was great about having one child. I really didn’t enjoy that window of worry and waiting between when I wanted to get pregnant again and when I decided that it would be fine to let things happen as they would. And having one child was awesome for us."
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- "Nope, I was always trying to juggle getting some work done. I knew I should take maternity leave and thought I would probably regret it, and now I do!"
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- "The Price of Privilege was really helpful. And the Mother Load podcast is funny with some good perspective."
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- "My friend Jesse Williams is a super creative awesome mom, and I love the relationship she has with her kids. Louise Bonnet is another creative mom. She is married to my former business partner Adam Silverman—he had two kids before they got married, then they had two more together! My dear friend Renee Zellweger (the photographer, curator, and awesome mom—not to be confused with the actress) has twin boys, and I’m always in awe of the crazy adventures she embarks on with them, regardless of whether her husband can join. Constance Zimmer from the Mother Load podcast is awesome, honest, and and funny! Her husband is an old friend. I could go on!"
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- This dreamy bunk room is perfect for friends and family who come to crash at the cabin.
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- "Hmmm, that’s something that might be easier to answer after some more time has passed, but it has made me less comfortable putting my child out into the world and letting him figure things out. It’s important that children see the world as a beautiful and supportive place, and as they become young adults, it’s important that they start to see the conflicts and complexity in the world layered on top of the supportive and beautiful place that it is. Currently, the conflicts and complexity seem even messier, and sometimes don't feel age-appropriate for older children or even young adults. I'm doing a lot of thinking of how to parent through this. If I did it again, there would be no smart phones until age 16. In my opinion, if a good amount of parents adopted that practice, kids would be better off. There’s a lot to navigate with your kids in the world, and the complexity added by what they can access and engage with on their phones is just distracting from a lot of other stuff that is more important. Even doing it together with them is complicated, and I’m not sure it’s giving them anything they need."
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- "Prepare a bit, but don’t obsess about it. It won't be what you expect and you can’t control it. It will be better and harder and more rewarding and more complex. Most of the things that you will experience and seem like crazy puzzles to solve will pass before you have a chance to figure them out. Things like sleeping, colic, sitting, walking, reading, math—all the painful points that feel like a challenge to really dig in and solve the problem—are really just points to move through, observe, and support. Then they are over and the next point appears."
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- "My husband and I own Heath Ceramics. My title is owner/creative director, but my job really is to guide the company and help make our teams successful. My focus and strengths are on guiding and developing the product and the brand."
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- Playful pops of color can be found in every room.
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- "I grew up in Holmdel, New Jersey, and went to Syracuse University for college. Syracuse is insanely cold and icy, which no one told me to consider when I chose that school. I studied Industrial Design, which was a good fit for my creative yet practical nature. I was recruited by Nike to design footwear and flew off to Portland the day after I graduated, which was pretty exciting for me right after school. I spent the next five years learning about how to design in a very creative yet corporate environment with some amazing people. I learned a lot about how public companies work. I also learned that what drove them wasn’t very aligned with what drove me. I left Portland for sunny San Francisco and spent the next eight years building a design consulting firm, with some more super talented and creative folks. That road led me back to more corporate design, because larger clients were more capable of paying larger bills. But my husband and I were dreaming of doing something different, differently, and then we came upon Heath. Originally, I thought I might help them with some design projects, but after about two minutes talking with the store staff we knew that the business really needed to be overhauled. So, if we wanted to do something, it had to be big, and we’ve been at it ever since. We live just outside San Francisco in Sausalito, right up the hill from Heath’s 1959 factory and store."
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- "My career path is pretty untraditional, and motherhood had to just layer on top of it and push it out of the way when necessary. I’ve alway felt like I should work less to be a better mother, and mother less to be better at work, but mothering is more important, so work losses. Before Jasper was born, I had an idea—what now seems like a crazy fantasy—that I could bring Jasper to work when he was little, and he’d sit and play quietly while I got some things done, or have a meeting, and that if he needed attention I could pick him up, give him attention, and then go back to what I was doing. For me nothing close ever materialized, and I realized that I needed to divide and focus. He didn’t need a distracted mom, and my co-workers didn’t need a distracted leader. So, this was my parenting approach: try to set aside real dedicated time and don’t try to jam work into every second when he was occupied doing something that didn’t require me."
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- The bedrooms are technology-free, but offer plenty of spots to curl up with a good book.
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- "My parents have always been so supportive. My mom stayed with us for a week after Jasper was born and it was so helpful. Shortly after, they moved to a town 20 minutes from us, and Jasper has a strong relationship with them and used to stay with them whenever we would travel. I am so thankful for them being here and supporting us, and for him having a real relationship with them. When Jasper was small we juggled nannies, mostly sharing them and accommodating their schedules because they were amazing people, and it helped our budget."
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- "Though work and life can become blurred together in my life, setting boundaries is critical. Family time really needs to be pure and all about focusing on the family."
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- The cabinets are well stocked with Heath Ceramics, naturally.
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- Cathy wears a Marni sweater and Julia Turner earrings.
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- "Every time I’m multitasking when I know I should be focused on the moment with my son or our family, the guilt starts to seep in. Just being observant of this is a start, and asking myself how urgent the work task, or home task at hand is, helps it go away. Often it can wait an hour or a day, and if it can’t, then I shouldn’t feel guilty."
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- "We live in Sausalito, and it’s beautiful. The nature, the air—geographically it’s a lovely place. We moved out of San Francisco because I wanted to breathe that air, be closer to the ocean, and have all that nature around our family. That’s why we moved here, and we can feel it all around us—we can walk 20 minutes and see the ocean, and we can look out the window and see the Bay and all the things humans have built—the good and the bad. We can see both sides, and that influences how we live our lives, reminds us to be simpler, and keeps us balanced. I think we should all strive to be in places that are beautiful and feed you in that way. Also, my son graduated last year from an amazing K-8 school in Sausalito (the New Village School)—it was an amazing community to raise a child in, and it was less than a mile from our house, so he was able to get to and from school by himself. Giving him that independence was super healthy for him and for our whole family."
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- "The past three summers we’ve lived in our van for two months at a time. When we are on the road, it sets up a different context for living somewhere because our home is mobile. It’s a great feeling, and I’d like to do more of that."
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- "Truckee is my favorite spot for eating and shopping. Bespoke Truckee is a shop with a point of view in everything they sell—lots of California Craft—and I always find an interesting book there. Atelier Truckee is a super cool craft shop that also offers classes, from painting to knitting—more for moms than for kids. Our go-to family eating stop is Jax on the Tracks. It’s not so much about the food—it’s a diner—but my son loves trains, and it’s right on the tracks. They also have great booths. We’re usually in the mood for very casual food when we’re in town, but when my husband and I have an evening alone you’d find us at Pianeta in Truckee—their pasta is amazing."
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- Ski-in, ski-out access!
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- "At this point in my life there is style, and I like to dress for my day. By that, I mean if there’s not an anticipated act of labor or mess-making in my day, I like to intentionally pull clothes together in a way that feels creative and makes me feel confident in tackling something. I’d say my style is minimal, uncomplicated, refined, and well tailored, but also functional—I love pockets! My days are not as creative as I’d like them to be, so at least I get to play with color and style in my closet every morning."
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- "So much! I found these three photos: in the first one my son was probably two, in the second one he’s about 6, and then there’s a current one. In the early months with my son, it was super hard for me to pull myself together in a way that I was happy with. I remember a grey pair of cords, a red sweater, and some Puma sneakers that became my uniform for the first winter after I had my son. It just wasn’t about me at that time. Soon after, I started working with Christina Kim who has a beautiful line of clothing called Dosa. She and her work inspired me. I bought a grey Dosa dress with a black floral pattern, and wore that at every event for the next couple of years! That made me feel like I could fit a bit of style into my life."
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- "I’ve got a lot of Sofie D’Hoore pieces in my closet. This has been my basic, professional 'Heath style' for a couple of years. Her pieces are refined, full of color, and perfectly executed. They don’t get tired and they always have pockets! I usually find you don’t understand the feel of what she’s trying to do until you get the clothes on—there’s always something interesting about the cut once you try it. I also love to wear Alabama Chanin—her whole whole line is made of jersey! I’m a big fan of Natalie Channin the founder—so much so that we did a line of dinnerware together—and I’m always excited to break out my Alabama Chanin dress for a summer party. I’ve also stitched some of these pieces myself. She sells kits and you put in tons of hours of labor hand stitching, but it’s so satisfying and beautiful to make a piece! I love beautiful, well made clothes, but they are expensive! I get a lot of my things from The Real Real second hand."
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- Cathy wears a Patagonia jacket, American Giant jeans, Hestra gloves, and Sorel boots.
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- "The morning routine starts with Vintner's Daughter Active Botanical Serum. It works wonders and smells amazing. Then a layer of Andalou BB Balm with SPF. If I’m wearing makeup then I pull out the Kjaer Weis."
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- "Oh god, the never-ending challenge. I gave up the gym years ago, and tried to get outside to walk some hills in the morning, but I could never stick with it. I really just don’t want to leave my house until after my routine. Honestly, the best success I’ve had is when I stop trying to be ambitious and get out of the house to hike or bike and set aside ½ hour in the morning to do something from Dailyburn.com. Even so, the routine is so damn hard for me to keep up; every time I travel it throws me off."
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- "Reading and drawing feed me—the drawing and painting especially. During breaks I’ll try to do a painting every day. Last year I spent one day a week taking classes in leather-working. This is a real craft—not design—and I spent one day a week learning and practicing these skills. They might lead me somewhere at some point, but for now it’s truly a time for me to work with my hands and not my head, which gives me a lot of perspective and a sense of quiet that I need in my life."
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- When your kid is big enough to be a formative opponent in a snow-ball fight.
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- "This is coming up more as the mom of a teenager. Jasper sees me and my actions in a different way as he sees himself as more independent. Everything we do we are modeling for our kids, and if we are doing it, talking about it, or whatever, we are modeling it. No one is perfect, but being conscious of this feels important, and if we know we’re not modeling what we believe is right, we at least need to acknowledge it."
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- "This isn’t really a resolution but I’m working on creating two visions: one for Heath work and my role at Heath, and one for more personal work. I’m thinking and documenting where I want to be in two years, and in five years. I'm not creating a plan—that’s daunting—just a vision of where I want to be."
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Dream home! Love everything about it, and the location, and her color palettes are perfection to me.