CHICAGO— Housekeeper Crockery, a domestic manufacturer of cookware and other housewares, including textiles and tabletop, will be making its International Home + Housewares Show debut.
Launched in 2015 by author Sara Dahmen, who had her interest in cookware piqued when she was doing research for a book, the company is now beginning to pick up steam. At the show, Dahmen will present her company’s copper cookware line, cast iron collection, copper bowl, pottery bowls, wooden spoons, pie plates and more.
The cast iron cookware collection is made from scrap and rail iron, said Dahmen, at a three-generation, family-owned foundry in Kaukauna, WI. Poured by hand, the 8-inch skillet weighs about 4.5 pounds and has a hand-sanded interior. The cast iron skillet is available raw oiled for $60
or seasoned with six coats of flax seed oil for $70.
While creating cast iron cookware was an interesting experience, Dahmen said that her copper cookware has been exciting to work on because she was able to deal with both form and function.
“I got to work with a mixture of the traditional and the pure and really wanted to make this cookware the purist of the pure. It was a way for me to bring cookware back to basics and I also wanted historical accuracy,” she said.
The copper offerings are designed to mimic those that were used in cooking in the 1800s as far as shape and design go, but are also created to be a quality cooking vessel, she noted.
The American-made copper cookware starts out from pure copper that is cut using water pressure by Ohio Metal. After the body is made, the cold-forged copper rivets, which are supplied by a company in Wisconsin, are used to attach the handles.
“We have been given access to handles created before the 1850s
that are reproduced in cast iron on
our stockpot. These ductile iron handles are forged at Lodi Iron Works, another family-owned, American company,” she said.
Currently available in a few specialty housewares stores and online, the 3-quart copper pot has a suggested retail price of $400. The 2-quart copper pot carries a suggested retail price of $325 and the copper lid is available for $150.
“These products are interesting and will last for hundreds of years. It’s exciting to know that I can give customers things that they can use forever,” she said.
Also available from Housekeeper Crockery are mixing bowls in three sizes. Individually hand-spun, the bowls are fired using Laguna clay. The bowls range in retail price from $65 for a large bowl to $45 for a small bowl.
Designed to fit both the cookware and the mixing bowls, the wooden spoons are available in three sizes for $20. The spoons are made from solid American maple and are manufactured in Indiana.
