Mark Your Calendar: Open Studios at Heath Ceramics

I'm a huge fan of Heath Ceramics, the 60-year-old pottery that Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic stumbled upon near their home in Sausalito, California five years ago and rescued from decline. (I'm also completely in awe of Catherine and Robin's amazing house.)

Believe it or not, though, I've never been to the Heath factory, despite the fact that it's only a few miles from where I live. (How lame is that? I'm embarrassed.) But that's going to change this weekend, when Heath holds its annual open studio and sale. Heath artisans will be manning their wheels and kilns during hourly factory tours, and everything in the Heath Factory Store will be 20 percent off -- including not just Heath's wonderful tableware and tile, but also gorgeous textiles and housewares from a small group of talented independent designers that Bailey and Petravic admire. There will be food from San Francisco's Green Chile Kitchen, and a hands-on tile glazing activity, too.

Below is a sneak peek of Heath's skilled craftsmen and -women at work (you can see the entire online tour here). I can't wait to watch them in action and to learn more about the process used to create this beautiful, timeless pottery

Heath's open studio and factory tours happen Saturday, November 22, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, November 23, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The annual sale starts Friday, November 21 in the Factory Store, and ends Sunday, November 30.

If you're not in the area, you can visit Heath online right here.

Mark Your Calendar: Eichler-O-Rama

Looks like a big weekend in the Bay Area for fans of Eichlers -- those quintessential "California Modern" homes of the Fifties and Sixties.

On Sunday, September 16, the Oakland Heritage Alliance hosts "The Eichlers of Oakland: Modernism at Home in the Hills." The docent-led walking tour will feature an enclave of mid-Sixties Eichler homes in the Oakland Hills. Tickets are $15. (Update: Unfortunately, this tour is sold out; hopefully the OHA will offer it again next year.)

Over in Marin County, don't miss the Open Hearts, Open Homes Tour, a benefit for Hospice by the Bay. On Saturday and Sunday, September 15 and 16, the docent-guided tour will feature more than two dozen Eichler homes in San Rafael, plus an "Eichler Expo" with Eichler-centric vendors and service pros. Tickets are $50 for one day, or $80 for both days.

If you're not familiar with Joseph Eichler (in glasses at left), he was a visionary builder who erected thousands of affordable modern homes in the Bay Area and Southern California from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. Though not an architect himself, his groundbreaking vision is apparent in every home he built, and he hired some of the most influential California architects of his time, including A. Quincy Jones and Claude Oakland (also pictured at left).

Eichler's post-and-beam homes defined "California living" after WWII, and his firm pioneered the notion of open floorplans and indoor-outdoor design, with walls of glass making the distinction between interior and exterior practically melt away. Many Eichler homes feature vaulted ceilings, atriums, in-floor radiant heating (revolutionary at the time), and prolific use of natural materials like teak and redwood.

Eichler was also dedicated to building truly modern homes for families of modest means and all races, and the neighborhoods he developed were among the first integrated ones in many of the communities in which he worked.

Today, of course, Eichlers are in high demand among fans of midcentury modern architecture, and can fetch upwards of a million dollars (or more) apiece. Two iconic Eichler neighborhoods in Palo Alto were recently added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Here's a look at a few Eichler homes both then and now, courtesy of Eichler for Sale, the Eichler Network, Eichler SoCal, Family Circle magazine, Marin Modern, and the San Francisco Chronicle:

Click here for more info on the "Eichlers of Oakland" tour, and here for info on the Marin Eichler tour.

To learn more about Joseph Eichler and his homes, pick up one of these beautiful coffee table books on the man and his work:

* Eichler Homes: Design for Living, by Jerry Ditto and Lanning Stern, with photographs by Marvin Wax (Chronicle Books, $30)

* Eichler: Modernism Rebuilds the American Dream, by Paul Adamson and Marty Arbunich (compiler), with photographs by Ernie Braun (Gibbs Smith Publisher, $50)

* Atomic Ranch: Design Ideas for Stylish Ranch Homes, by Michelle Gringeri-Brown, with photographs by Jim Brown (Gibbs Smith Publisher, $40)

Mark Your Calendar: Heath Ceramics Open Studio

Though it's been in operation since 1948, Heath Ceramics has enjoyed major buzz lately as new owners Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey work to bring founder Edith Heath's elegantly earthy midcentury tableware and tile designs to a whole new audience.

Handcraftsmanship is a hallmark of the Heath aesthetic, and this weekend you can see it up close when the historic Heath factory in Sausalito opens its doors for tours, tile glazing, and BBQing. During the open studio, everything in the factory store is 15% off. The hours are Saturday, May 5, from 10-6 or Sunday, May 6, from 10-5. The factory is located at 400 Gate Five Rd. in Sausalito.