Raw and refined
Matt Dick walks around his 1,085square-foot studio and showroom, recounting what it looked like when he initially set foot inside in 2012. “This whole floor had no walls when I came in,” he said of the expanse located above the Heath Ceramics flagship in San Francisco’s Mission District. “(Heath co-owner) Robin Petravic and I were standing here, in front of a pile of rubble to the ceiling.”
Since then, walls have been erected to delineate several work spaces on the building’s second level. Gray steel braces were installed, the original wood floors patched as necessary, and “everything was sandblasted and cleaned,” said Dick of the headquarters for his business, Small Trade Company (www.smalltradecompany.com). Observing the massive concrete beams, exposed pipes and stretches of window grids, he added: “It’s old, beautiful, raw and industrial.”
Dressed in one of his own kurtas — the design channels the collarless, loose-fitting shirts prevalent in India — he explained the approach to his collection, which also includes utilitarian items like aprons and totes, as well as blankets made of hemp, wool and yak hair that are beautiful enough to be hung as wall art. “I like honest materials; that you know what it is,” he said. “And I don’t like decoration.”
He continues: “I feel like I’m always taking away elements instead of adding. We do a lot of work around this notion of: How do we make this the best, the simplest and the strongest — and showcase the way we’re making it and what we’re making it with.” To that end, Small Trade often collaborates with other artists and makers who specialize in a technique or product.
For example, his version of the kurta is fabricated from a woven plaid cotton from India. The bottom of the tunics have been dyed using a method called dorozome that is done on the tiny Japanese island of Amami Oshima. The elaborate process involves the pulp from a local plum tree and the island’s volcanic mud.
Dick describes his style as “clean, minimal, modern and timeless,” an aesthetic that carries over to his studio. “I hope everything we make is with the intention of someone passing it on, keeping it for a long time and letting it age.”