Dresden & Co. produces first line made in US
DRESDEN – For Dresden & Company, continuing the century-old basketmaking tradition in the village isn’t just about selling baskets.
After the Longaberger Company closed its doors in 2018, founder Jim Lepi saw an opportunity to fulfill two needs in the community: Employ the basketmakers who lost their jobs, and help their families in need.
“There was absolutely a desire to carry on, and not just let this go away after all these years that Dresden has been known as the basket capital of the world,” Lepi said.
Now with the company’s first 100% made-in-the-usa collection coming out for the holidays, there are stories of crafters across the country being told, not just those working in the company’s Main Street, Dresden workshop.
And that was the goal of the collection. Vendors from across the country came together to play a role in the collection. From the featured pieces like jingle bells from Connecticut and pottery from Zanesville, to basket handle veneer from Northwest Ohio, it’s all sourced straight from the United States.
“Everything and every project in there has an incredible story about the craft, about the people who make it,” marketing director Brenton Baker said.
After Dresden & Company was founded, in 2019 the Longaberger brand was revived by an out-of-state company to sell branded baskets under that name. Dresden & Company was contracted by the Longaberger Company to make a number of baskets, but Dresden & Company is otherwise not affiliated with the Longaberger brand, Baker said. A number of unique products from American companies passed down generations are featured in the collection.
Cici Bevin now represents Bevin Bells, her family’s six-generation bell company based in East Hampton, Connecticut. The town was once home to 20 bell companies and was colloquially named Belltown.
“Especially in times like now when things seem very uncertain, I feel that the American-made message resonates very strongly and what that means on a deeper level,” Bevin said.
Every material in Dresden & Company’s baskets is sourced from the U.S. down to a gnat’s eyelash: hard maple veneer comes from Northwest Ohio and upstate Maine, plastic basket linings come from Columbus; the wood stain is supplied from Indiana.
That’s continued in the NovemberDecember holiday collection, with glassware handcrafted in Ohio, wooden bowls with lumber sourced from Midwest forests, and natural ingredients in soaps and sauces.