Our Favorite American-Made Companies to Support Now and Always

Blanc Creatives

Corry Blanc's handcrafted kitchenwares are as hardworking as they are beautiful. Just ask chef Sean Brock, who once tweeted that his carbon-steel pan was "by far the most badass skillet I have ever put a chicken in." (Andrew Zimmern and Alton Brown are also fans.)

Blanc has always been both artistic and industrious: He aced his ceramics classes in high school and apprenticed in his uncle's metal-fabrication shop after graduation, then moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he became a blacksmith and took up woodworking. Ten years ago, he funneled his skills into Blanc Creatives, producing culinary heirlooms for everyday use from locally and regionally sourced materials, like wood from trees downed in storms. "I love that I'm making something that will outlive me," says the artisan, who, with his team of 12 craftspeople, recently moved into a new 14,000-square-foot studio, where they plan to expand into ceramics and silver-and copperwork. "I want each thing we make to bring lifetimes of joy."

Keeping his pieces in excellent and long-lasting condition
is simple, says Blanc: "Just wash and dry them, and every now and then apply a little vegetable oil to your knife or pan, or wood balm to your board or other wood pieces."

Shop Now: Blanc Creatives Chef's Knife, $525; Cherry Serving Board, $160; and Pinch Bowls, $90 for medium-size or $250 for a set of three, blanccreatives.com.

Lake August

"My work is like my journal," says wallpaper and textile designer Alexis Hartman, who captures outdoor adventures past and present in her ebullient palettes and prints. No detail is too small for the native Californian to blow out: vines of nasturtiums in her mother's Los Angeles garden, the weave of baskets made by her grandmother, kelp spotted on beach trips with her husband and kids. Hartman started her career in fashion, but switched to interiors to create things that aren't cast aside every season. She begins each handmade design with a painting in gouache (an opaque watercolor) or a block print; then she digitizes the image, separating out each hue and imprinting it onto silk screens. The pattern gets printed by hand repeatedly onto rolls of linen or paper, one color at a time, on 50-yard tables. These days, she's bewitched by the Scouler's willows in her new yard in Washington State, which rustle to life when filled with singing birds. "The variations in nature are astounding," she says. "I sit outside, see patterns, and can't wait to start painting."

Alexis Hartman works exclusively with natural fibers, and donates a portion of proceeds to the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Arizona.

Shop Now: Lake August Wallpapers and Textiles, from $195, lakeaugust.com.

Atlantic Sea Farms

Lobster isn't the only delicious thing sourced from the clean, cold waters of Maine. During the crustacean's off-season—roughly November through May—lobstermen and -women up and down the coast are busy hauling in lines of another glistening catch: ribbons of dark-green seaweed. These pros work with Atlantic Sea Farms, the first business to cultivate fresh kelp at scale on our shores (until recently, it's been mostly imported, arriving dried or reconstituted using chemicals and artificial dyes). The female-led four-year-old company helps fisherfolk start farms and guides them through the growing-and-harvesting cycle, which removes carbon and nitrogen from the water and reduces ocean acidification. Beyond helping the environment, the process yields a superfood that provides magnesium, iron, calcium, and antioxidants, and is tasty whether tossed in a salad or blitzed into a smoothie—just ask chefs Dan Barber, Victoria Blamey, and David Chang, all fans. "Fresh seaweed has a very different texture and flavor from dried," says CEO and president Briana Warner. "It's crunchy and bright-tasting, like a blanched green bean." One bite, and you'll join the wave, too.

Clockwise from top: Fermented-seaweed salad, seaweed kimchi (otherwise known as "Sea-Chi"), ready-cut kelp, and frozen kelp cubes. The regenerative plant doesn't require fresh water, fertilizers, or land to grow, and its forests can remove 20 times more carbon per acre than those on land.

Shop Now: Atlantic Sea Farms Products, from $8, atlanticseafarms.com.

Agnes Baddoo

As a stylist for magazines like Interview, Vogue Italia, and Vanity Fair, Agnes Baddoo held the keys to the proverbial fashion closet. But in all her years in the business, she kept reaching for one favorite bag: a simple leather carryall she'd inherited from her late mother. Baddoo had the top trimmed down, the straps shortened, and the leather repaired multiple times—and then decided to make her own version, a sturdy, square sac (as she calls her pieces) with a well-defined front pocket. To test the market, she cautiously had just 10 made for the Echo Park Craft Fair, in Los Angeles. But she sold the first before even unpacking, and the rest were gone by lunchtime. Baddoo left with a list of preorders in hand, and soon she was designing variations on the original: an enlarged travel tote, a cross-body style for walking around her hometown of New York City; and a small, belted purse. To limit waste, she also turns scraps into sandal straps, phone and eyeglasses cases, and coasters, and donates remainders to arts organizations. Her gender-neutral sacs are the anti-It bags, meant to show their experiences and take on "more wattage as they get older," says Baddoo, who continues to make everything in her small factory. "I'm sentimental—I love the idea that my bags take a place in people's narratives and travel with them throughout their lives."

To help her leather bags last, Baddoo suggests treating them with olive oil or leather conditioner when they start to look dry, and repeating as needed. "Always color-test on the bottom first and leave it overnight," she says. "Then moisturize it all over, and enjoy the ride."

Shop Now: Agnes Baddoo Sacs, from $425 for styles shown, agnesbaddoo.com.

CowPots

The Freund family has been milking cows for more than seven decades, and their herd has grown from a dozen to 350 in that time. More cows definitely mean more daily milk—about 2,300 gallons—but also a whole lot more manure: We're talking several tons. To dispose of it, the dairy farm's sustainably minded second-generation owners, brothers Matthew and Benjamin, got creative. First, they installed a methane digester to separate it into liquid fertilizer and fuel to provide heat and hot water for the farmhouse. (Solar panels generate energy to run the dairy and factory.) Then Matthew, in a real eureka moment, took the remaining composted fiber and created CowPots: odor-free vessels you can use to start and transplant seedlings. The natural containers, ingenious alternatives to conventional plastic trays and peat pots, go right into the soil without disturbing the roots, and then biodegrade in about three months. "What began as a way to meet our environmental goals has evolved into an important income-generating pursuit," says Amanda Freund, Matthew's daughter. "We're eager to see what more we can do."

The creators hope that more nursery owners will switch from unrecyclable plastic pots to biodegradable ones for the annual plants and edibles they sell. The family is also experimenting with the CowPot technology to make packing materials, bait cups for fishing, urns for ashes, and other zero-waste products.

Shop Now: CowPots, from $5.60 for 20, cowpots.com.

House on the Hill

Intricately embossed springerle cookies originated in central Europe, where they've trumpeted the holidays for more than 500 years. House on the Hill, a female-run company in Rosebud, Missouri, is keeping the tradition alive and well stateside.

When she was a little girl, Connie Meisinger couldn't wait to open the tin of springerles her German grandmother sent each Christmas. The cake-like cookies tasted like anise and featured sweet, wintry motifs. "My father was in the air force, so we moved a lot," she recalls. "Those cookies connected us." Years later, she inherited her grandmother's recipe and began sharing dozens with loved ones each season; in 1993, her passion became public when she was a winner of the famed Chicago Tribune cookie contest. This caught the attention of Caroline Kallas, then-owner of House on the Hill, a small mail-order company specializing in the molds, who introduced her to her designs. Meisinger became a devoted client—so devoted, she bought the company in 2002.

House on the Hill's molds, both new designs and replicas of originals from private collections and museums, run the gamut from pinecones and bouquets to animals and Santas. Each picture is carved in wood by an artisan to make a production mold, which is used to cast the hand-poured and-finished wood-resin molds they sell.

When Meisinger retired last summer, she passed the spatula to Letha Misener, another prize-winning baker and loyal customer. Her signature treats, which she sells at fairs and holiday markets, are flavored with orange and raspberry, and some are iced with chocolate on the back. "Springerles are special," Misener says, echoing Meisinger's sentiment. "They bring people back to home, family, and good memories."

The secret to sharp details is to let the pressed cookie dough rest for 24 hours before baking. "This forms a crust on top and preserves the design," says Misener.

Shop Now: House on the Hill Cookie Molds, from $28, fancyflours.com.

Good Kitchen Products

When this Santa Barbara, California-based designer couldn't find the apron of her dreams four years ago, she stitched one up herself, launching a business that lives up to its name: G.K.P., or Good Kitchen Products.

Any old apron can protect your clothes. But Kazuyo Takeda, a former fashion designer and mom of two, craved one that would do more than fend off kitchen spatters. "I tried to find some I'd want to wear to fit my style and mood, like clothing in my wardrobe," she says. Unsatisfied with the options, she sewed a few of her own, using high-quality cotton twill and canvas left over from fashion projects, and a simple design with roomy pockets for her cell phone and cooking tools. After friends saw it and begged her to make versions for them, too, Takeda decided to whip up samples to send to the pros she'd admired on the Netflix show Chef's Table. She got glowing feedback—and actual orders—from talents like Grant Achatz, Nancy Silverton, and Dan Barber, who appreciated the sharp, gender-neutral styles and the sturdy material that stands up to grease and laundering. That success gave her business liftoff, and soon she was creating more designs and hiring a small team of California artisans to produce aprons inspired by the same values that motivate farm-to-table chefs. "Beauty, practicality, sustainability—these are our goals," says Takeda, who donates a percentage of sales to organizations battling plastic pollution. G.K.P.'s newest project: colorful, compostable trash bags that look good in your kitchen.

Takeda's two-tone aprons have vivid piping binding the top and bottom together. "It's like a secret, only visible on the inside," she says. On the custom Bistro version for New York's Blue Hill restaurant, below right, that bright stripe is front and center. See more styles on Instagram at @gkp_goodkitchenproducts.

Shop Now: G.K.P. Aprons, from $89 each, gkpofficial.com.

Summer Studio

Simplicity, craftsmanship, and charm are the tenets behind furniture maker Jack Sasaki's well-honed practice. Over the past four years, the designer has turned out works of exceptional quality in a handful of his favorite woods: white oak, black walnut, and ash. "Woodworking has always been in my blood," says Sasaki, whose influences include Japanese stools and spare Shaker chairs. "My great-grandfather was a carpenter in Japan who made shrines, and my father's hobby was making woodblock prints." Sasaki's date with destiny, though, occurred later in his career. He trained as an architect, and spent more than two decades working as a real estate developer in Japan and Los Angeles. But he always pursued his hands-on passion, enrolling in a series of evening community-college workshops before quitting his day job in 2014. "At age 60, I'm supposed to be in the winter of my life," he says of the name he gave his studio. "But I feel with this new calling, I'm in the middle of summer."

Sasaki jokes that he follows a formula of sorts: "I think 70 percent of a style should look familiar, and 30 percent should be unique." He designs his pieces by integrating traditional sketching and model-making with computer-assisted machines, which he prizes for their precision.

Shop Now: Summer Studio Chairs and Stools, from $395 each, summerstudiodesign.com.

Koda Farms

For generations of Asian Americans, a hefty sack of Kokuho Rose rice has represented home. Developed in the 1950s at Koda Farms in the San Joaquin Valley, this iconic varietal of medium-grain, Japonica-style rice became a staple for many Japanese, Chinese, and Korean immigrants searching for the familiar stickiness and texture they found lacking in the typical long-grain types at U.S. supermarkets.

Today, more than a century since its founding by Keisaburo Koda, a native of Japan's Fukushima prefecture, Koda remains California's oldest family-owned-and-operated rice farm and mill—and still grows some of the most delicious kernels in the country. Siblings Robin Koda and Ross Koda, grandchildren of the founder, run the company today with a close eye on its legacy. They plant heirloom Kokuho Rose seeds, which take longer to mature and are more difficult to harvest than modern counterparts due to their taller height. The payoff, says Robin, is a faintly floral, almost sweet flavor: "It hasn't had everything tasty bred out of it." But buyer beware—look-alike brands (there are several) are no match. "We now put our grandfather's photo on our table-rice packaging to distinguish it," says Robin. "We want to live up to his standards.

White and translucent when raw, Kokuho Rose grains cook up moist, tender, and just clingy enough to grab easily with chopsticks.

Shop Now: Koda Farms Organic Kokuho Rose, from $6 for 1 lb., kodafarms.com; Masuda Kiribako Storage Canister, $150, shoptenzo.com.

Wm. J. Mills & Co.

Bob Mills and the four generations of sailmakers who preceded him have been cut from the same cloth: canvas. "I learned about the fabric through osmosis," says the vice president of the business, which his great-great-grandfather founded in 1880 to manufacture sails for commercial boats and, eventually, custom marine canvas and awnings. In the 1950s, Mills' dad made a duffel from remnants to carry his things to a regatta; years later, a bag division was born. Like that first prototype, which still hangs in the showroom, today's styles are hand-sewn and durable, from the catchall "ice" bag—originally designed for hauling huge blocks onboard for refrigeration (but also ideal for a weekend away)—to the classic tote. "We use a heavyweight, 100-percent-cotton fabric, which creates some deflection with the needle," Mills says. "The stitching isn't perfectly straight, but that's what gives it character." Fray-proof thread and heavy-duty zippers anchor their lasting durability—something this crew knows plenty about.

You can always spot a Mills bag by its iconic label. The one with red type was created in the mid-'60s, while the style with black type, used exclusively on the vintage line, is exactly the same as the ones printed on the company's sails in the 1800s.

Shop Now: Wm. J. Mills & Co. Specialty Ditty Bag, in Sunshine Yellow, $45, millscanvas.com; Wm. J. Mills & Co. Vintage Main Beach Bag, in Natural/Navy, $175, millscanvas.com.

Armitano Domingo Ceramics

Ceramist Marc Armitano Domingo is an old soul, perhaps thousands of years old. At age five, he listened wide-eyed as his grandma read him stories of ancient Egypt, and by seventh grade he was learning to play the viola da gamba, a 15th-century instrument similar to a modern cello. "Craftsmen would decorate them with elaborate nature scenes to impress noble patrons," says the artist, who studied historical music and performance at the Peabody Institute, in Baltimore. "It made a useful object truly beautiful." A pottery course taken on a whim one summer turned him on to porcelain, and he's since applied the same approach to creating plates, platters, and apothecary jars. The shapes are simple, but his signature touches—hand-carved, hand-painted ladybugs and dragonflies; engraved ants; gold-lustered rims—are exquisite. "I love spending time on the details," says Armitano Domingo, who also paints custom portraits on porcelain plaques. The stunning results prove it's time well spent.

Firing in a gas reduction kiln gives Armitano Domingo's wares a subtle gray‑blue glow and softens their edges. "I envision it like a candle in a hot sauna," he says. "Everything gets relaxed, which I love." The process also renders the stone more durable and heat‑resistant.

Shop Now: Armitano Domingo Ceramics Assorted Plates and Platters, from $110 each, armitanodomingo.shop.

Mathilde

As a kid in San Francisco, Claudia Middendorf spent the city's famously chilly summers curled up on the couch in a giant afghan that had been crocheted by her grandmother. "It was the epitome of comfort," she recalls. After learning to sew at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she studied graphic design, Middendorf set out to re-create that feeling with quilts. She was drawn to linen for its natural breathability and durability, but also loved the way it dimpled unevenly as she stitched rows across it—and, in that wabi-sabi spirit, tossed one of her first pieces in the laundry. "It was an aha moment, seeing it waffle up in the dryer," she says. "The irregularity made it feel less precious." That puckering became a signature of the line she launched in 2017, as did her geometric patterns and touchstone colors—the amber of brick paths in her neighborhood, the navy of classic denim—which fade beautifully with age. The results are as warm as her early memories, but oh-so-cool, too.

Middendorf puts domestically sourced cotton batting between two layers of linen in every quilt. The combination creates "lovely loft and extra insulation," she says.

Shop Now: Mathilde "Cape Cod Navy" and "Blok II," in Blue, Brick, and Sand, from $450 each, mathildehome.com.

Styling by Lorna Aragon

• Quilt Makers You Should Be Following on Instagram

Hibiscus Linens

At her Catholic grade school in Monterrey, Mexico, Mariana Barran Goodall learned to stitch by the time she could spell. Soon after, she started helping the seamstresses at her mother's dance studio embellish tutus with delicate medallions and beads. "I found joy in my ability to refresh something basic by hand," Goodall recalls. Working in human resources in Houston years later, she grabbed her needles again, embroidering blankets and powder-room towels as gifts for friends and colleagues. Their awestruck reactions—"You made this?"—inspired her to launch a line of "grown-up but more modern than your grandma's" textiles in 2015. Today, she teaches virtual classes, too. "I focus on greenery and florals, so there's no need for perfection," she says. "I tell my students if one leaf is longer than another, there's plenty of wiggle room for it to still look pretty." Now that's a beautiful lesson.

Goodall designs new motifs every season—billowy hydrangeas, a twirl of ivy—but sticks to the same 13 colors for her crocheted, fringed, and hemstitched edges. "This way, people can grow a family of matching pieces over time," she says.

Shop Now: Hibiscus Linens Path of Flowers Cocktail Napkin, $28; Hibiscus Linens Anna Crochet-Edge Cocktail Napkins, $22 each; Cluster of Blooms Cocktail Napkin, $32; Hibiscus Linens Olive Crochet Cocktail Napkin, $22, hibiscuslinens.com.

Prop Styling by Suzie Myers; food styling by Greg Lofts and Riley Wofford.

Mercury Mosaics

For Mercedes Austin, owner and founder of Mercury Mosaics, tiles are pieces of a dynamic puzzle. The lifelong creative ("I drew floor plans as a little kid," she says) first took to the medium while watching her college roommate embellish a table with broken bits of ceramic. "It was a bold, colorful project, and very tactile. It inspired me to take note of an art form I'd never considered," says Austin, who studied painting and photography. In 2002, she launched her line from her attic, creating bubble and square shapes; since then, it's grown to include classic subways and unexpected designs like hexagons, slender diamonds, and Moroccan fish scales. Today, a team of 35 artisans hand-cuts her forms with wet saws, fires them, and brushes on glazes, each mixed to enhance one of three kinds of clay. This made-to-order process is perfect for custom jobs of any size ("We're as willing to outfit two square feet as to work with the big dreamers," Austin explains) and finding solutions for tricky corners and wonky outlets. "We just figure out a way to be friends with them," she says with a laugh.

Some of Austin's favorite configurations combine several colors. These beauties represent just a few of her 48 lead-free shades, which range from deep blue to sunny yellow.

Shop Now: Mercury Mosaics Small Hexagons, in Amber, $95 per sq. ft., mercurymosaics.com; Mercury Mosaics Small and Medium Moroccan Fish Scales, in Bluegrass, from $86 per sq. ft., mercurymosaics.com; Mercury Mosaics Medium Diamonds, in Blue Opal, $65 per sq. ft., mercurymosaics.com; Mercury Mosaics Subway, 2" by 6", in Grapefruit, $53 per sq. ft., mercurymosaics.com.

Styling by Carla Gonzalez-Hart

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey

In 2016, a hidden truth about Jack Daniel's whiskey bubbled to the surface: Nathan "Nearest" Green, an enslaved man, taught young Jack the liquor-making technique that would make him a legend. When bestselling author Fawn Weaver read the news, she was thirsty for more. She scoured historical records, dove into Daniel's biography, and spoke with Green's descendants, unearthing "a striking relationship of equality between the two," she says, "a story of love." To honor Green and create a spirit in his style, Weaver founded Uncle Nearest, and hired several of his family members, including great-great-granddaughter Victoria Eady Butler. She would become the company's master blender—the first African-American woman to hold the title at a major U.S. distillery. "Our whiskey goes into oak barrels at a lower proof, which means we can add much less water at the end," says Weaver, explaining its rich, hint-of-caramel flavor. A signature triple-filtration—through sugar-maple charcoal, then carbon from coconut shells and diatomaceous earth—also makes it "the smoothest whiskey in Tennessee." Critics agree: It won more awards than any other in the country last year. We'll drink to that!

To make the 1884 Small Batch Whiskey (shown), master blender Victoria Eady Butler personally sniffs, samples, and selects the whiskeys to mix from different barrels. The result: "It tastes like a baked oatmeal cookie, but with slightly spicy, savory undertones," she says. Our food editors enjoy it neat, or swirled into a whiskey sour.

Shop Now: Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, $49 for 750 ml, unclenearest.com.

Food Styling by Riley Wofford; prop styling by Naomi DeMañana.

Ank Ceramics

Artist Ariela Kuh's mugs are just the thing to rouse a sleepy morning routine. A painting major in college, Kuh rarely dabbled in three dimensions—until a friend encouraged her to take a ceramics course at the Fleisher Art Memorial, in Philadelphia, where Kuh was teaching postgrad. It was love at first touch. "There was something so direct about the utility of what I was making that I found totally enchanting," says the Massachusetts native. But her years behind the easel were not lost on her work today: An eye for color gives her saturated line of dishware and hand-thrown vessels a unique appeal. "If you look closely at works by Canaletto or Giotto, you'll see dashes of brilliant red," says Kuh, describing the inspiration behind the glaze of her Cad mug (top row, middle). "It's amazing how a little bit of a bright, juicy shade can shift an entire scene."

When minerals in clay react with heat and a certain white glaze, they create a speckled effect (as seen on the Sparrow mug, near right). "I love that it's a natural pattern that is different every time," Kuh says.

Shop Now: Ank Ceramics Fever, Cad, Dune, Pink, and Sparrow Mugs, starting from $40 each, ankceramics.com.

Styling by Carla Gonzalez-Hart.

Gary Bodker Designs

The bowls, carafes, and bud vases Gary Bodker creates in his studio are as luminous and serene as rippling water. But when you consider the physically intense process that goes into making them—and it includes a giant electric furnace and a 2,300-degree metal forge—they're all the more astonishing. A New Jersey native, Bodker studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and found the spark for his simple, organic style on a trip to Japan. "I saw handmade glass objects, like chopstick rests and rice bowls, that were small, beautiful, and purposeful," he says. "In school, you're taught to be an artist; they discourage functional things. But when someone actually uses the item you've made, that's the biggest compliment."

To make his deep mauves, ochres, and bluey grays, Bodker places a small piece of colored glass on the end of his blowpipe, then gathers clear glass on top: "As I blow, the bubble of air thins the material, and the color spreads throughout."

Shop Now: Gary Bodker Designs Nesting Bowls, in Rose, from $80 each, garybodker.com; Gary Bodker Designs Tall Big Gem Vase, in Wheat, $48, garybodker.com; Gary Bodker Designs Square Big Gem Vase, in Charcoal, $48, garybodker.com.

Atelier Saucier

The tables have turned: Cloth napkins, once reserved for special occasions, are now an eco everyday item at home. Better yet, the chic offerings from Atelier Saucier are sustainable from the start. Cofounders Staci Inspektor and Nikki Reed use high-quality surplus fabrics from fashion companies—denim, chambray, linen, and cotton—that would otherwise get thrown out. "We're not milling anything new," says Inspektor, who was previously a clothing designer. Every napkin, placemat, tea towel, and runner Atelier Saucier produces is carefully vetted. "Whenever we source a fabric, we do the 'lip' test to make sure it feels nice," says Inspektor.

Adds Reed, a restaurant consultant, "Our approach is Diana Vreeland meets Julia Child. The pieces are pretty and elevated, but if you spill wine on them, it's okay; just toss them in the wash!" Put them out for any meal, be it a weekday breakfast or weekend feast. Like your favorite shirt, they only get softer and better with age.

Shop Now: Atelier Saucier Cloth Napkins, in (from left) Candy Stripe, Tie-Dye Denim Linen, Blush Linen Orange, Rainbow Denim in Green, Rainbow Twill in Yellow, Rainbow Twill in Red, and Blush Linen Navy, $60 for a set of 4, ateliersaucier.la.

Styling by Carla Gonzalez-Hart

Row 7 Seeds

The tale of a crisp cucumber or crazy-juicy tomato begins long before it sprouts from the soil. "Typically, vegetables are bred to be sideshows," says Tarrytown, New York-based Row 7 cofounder and visionary chef Dan Barber, of Blue Hill at Stone Barns fame. "The focus is on shelf life and uniformity. But if we want them to take center stage, they have to be bred for deliciousness." With that in mind, he partnered with vegetable breeder Michael Mazourek and seed producer Matthew Goldfarb to create organic, non-GMO varieties, and gathered a network of farmers and chefs to grow them, cook them, and report back. Today, Row 7's catalog offers 11 cultivars, from honeyed, velvety Robin's Koginut squashes to Badger Flame beets so sweet and pure in taste, you'll want to crunch into them raw. And as the company's name suggests, these gems are just a start: The periodic table's seventh row was originally left blank for elements yet to be discovered.

Want to plant the company's seeds, but don't have a garden? No problem: Row 7's Beauregarde snow peas and Badger Flame beets thrive in containers. Plant them in three- to-five-gallon pots, using a trellis for the peas and a soil depth of at least 10 inches for the beets.

Shop Now: Row 7 Seed Packets, from $3.50 each, row7seeds.com.

New Leaf Tree Syrups

Pure maple syrup may be the gold standard for pancakes, but this company will inspire you to branch out. Its cofounder, Michael Farrell, a former director of Cornell University's Uihlein forest-research program, uses reverse osmosis and high-pressure steam evaporation to create elixirs from trees that have been long passed over because of their relatively low sugar content. The sweet outcome: He's bottled the natural fruitiness of birch; the piney, floral qualities of balsam fir; the butteriness of beech; and the pear notes of walnut. Indulging with a drizzle at breakfast is only the beginning. "The maple-walnut is great over vanilla ice cream," Farrell says. "And birch sourced late in the season has a sour kick, zesting up savory sauces and glazes." All the more reason to go out on a limb.

New Leaf's maple-birch blend is the happy result of great timing: There's about one week in April when both saps are flowing, Farrell says. Combining them yields a lighter take on the classic, with subtle notes of raspberry.

Shop Now: New Leaf Tree Syrups Maple-Birch Blend, $18 for 12.7 oz., newleaftreesyrups.com.

Nikki + Mallory

Treasure Mallory's small-batch line of shoes, bags, and accessories—named after her nickname and surname—was the result of her search for a creative outlet, but she quickly realized that she already had one: She was altering her own clothes or recreating pieces she saw at the mall. Today, her business, which first launched in 2015, has reached women all of the world, including those on the red carpet. Her vegan leather satchels, beach-ready espadrilles, and home wares are modern and subtly bohemian, and the designs speak to her origins in Pasadena, California. Best of all, they honor the environment: A percentage of her pieces are composed of recycled or up-cycled materials and she's made a commitment to reducing the use of chemicals in her process.

Shop Now: Nikki + Mallory Walnut Tote, $385, nikkiandmallory.com.

MG by Hand

Ceramist Melissa Goldstein's love for beautiful, age-worn objects is matched only by her passion for the creative process. The artist pored over 17th-century botanical illustrations for inspiration, and now works in small batches to make her one-of-a-kind tableware, which includes plates, bowls, and vases. After shaping a single piece, she fires it, paints a design in cobalt, glazes it, and then fires it again in a gas kiln to draw out the clay's metallic pigments. You never know where they'll emerge, but that's part of the beauty: "It's the one moment where I cede control," she says with a laugh. By day, Goldstein works in photo research for fashion brands and magazines. But nights and weekends, she's behind the wheel, blissfully losing track of time.

"There are so many ways to depict a flower," says Goldstein, who has clocked countless hours studying drawings of the natural world at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. In her work, you'll find daisies, tiger lilies, and fritillaria, plus birds and numerals that nod to scientific notations.

Show Now: (from top) MG by Hand Number Dinner Plates, Flower Salad Plates, and Bird Dessert Plates, starting from $90 each, mgbyhand.com.

Greentree Home Candle

When these two married artists collaborate, creative sparks fly. Trained as a painter, Jenifer Green had an epiphany in 2000 after seeing her woodworker husband, Don, craft a set of maple and cherry candleholders for his home line. "We can't put just any tapers in them," she thought, and set out to make her own from a material as beautiful and natural as hardwood. She found it in beeswax, "a renewable resource with a slow, clean burn." Today, the Catskills-based couple work in tandem: Jenifer sources striking objects—bamboo from her sister's Hawaiian town, her mom's apothecary bottles—and Don casts them in silicone molds. She hand-fills them with the wax, and together they help set the world aglow. Greentree Home Candles come in 20 colors, and their wicks are pure cotton.

Shop Now: (from left) Green Tree Home "Twig" Taper in Black, $28 for 2; "Josee" Squat Pillar in Terra Cotta, $32; Twig Taper in Sage, $28 for 2; "Josee" Medium Pillar in Antique, $32; and "Josee" Tall Pillar in Natural, $30, greentreehomecandle.com.

• How to Turn Your Craft Into a Booming Business, According to the Founder of Greentree Home Candle

Little Apple Treats

Plant farmers Joanne Krueger and Dan Lehrer certainly know how to make the most of something—especially when it comes to apples. The husband-and-wife duo bought land in 1999 with the simple goal of expanding their nursery business, but the 22-acre orchard they found on the plot became their calling. Its fruit famously flavored Apple Jacks cereal in the '70s, so they decided to tap into its full potential. First they turned the property organic (a rigorous three-year process). Then they began fermenting cider vinegars in oak barrels from a nearby winery, and quickly garnered a fan base at the farmers' market. "Then I thought, What else can I do with apples?" Krueger says. Her answer: buttery caramels, chewy granolas, and bracingly tart and delicious shrubs.

Shop Now: Little Apple Treats Original Apple-Cider Vinegar, $20 for 12.7 oz.; Ginger-and-Hibiscus Shrub, $25 for 12.7 oz.; and Meyer-Lemon-and-Green-Coriander Shrub, $25 for 12.7 oz., littleappletreats.com

Nicole Crowder

Nicole Crowder was working as a photo editor when she purchased her first set of chairs from a Maryland antique store, along with a few rolls of simple fabric, to attempt her first upholstery project. (This first go wasn't born in a vacuum: She was inspired by the work of Andrea Mihalik, an upholsterer working in Philadelphia.) As it turns out, she was a natural; within a week, an interior designer scooped up her chairs, which had been listed on Craigslist, and asked her if she had a showroom—she had clients that wanted to see more of her work.

A few years later, she launched her colorful, pattern-filled business from her living room in Washington, D.C., something several major players quickly noticed. She's filled the British Embassy, Audubon Naturalist Society, and the Pope-Leighey House, a suburban home in Virginia designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, with her maximalist fabrics, which she sources from all over the world. Her pieces are filled with flair and feeling, and she attempts to imbue a mood into everything she creates. "I love making a piece look and feel like it's dressed," she says.

• See How Nicole Crowder's Upholstery Breathes New Life Into Heirloom Furniture

Sarah Kersten Studio

If ceramics projects had levels of difficulty, Chinese water-lock fermentation jars would be off the charts. To seal in vegetables until they reach their pickle-y peak, the crocks require seamless construction and airtight closure. Lucky for us, Sarah Kersten is a whiz. A firm believer in probiotics (and self-described sauerkraut enthusiast), the potter has spent years refining a liquid-clay recipe, a mold for slip-casting, and a foolproof technique. Along the way, she's perfected their looks too. Fermenting takes weeks, she explains: "They had to be pretty enough to leave out while working their magic."

Shop Now: Sarah Kersten Vegetable Fermentation Jars, from $175, sarahkersten.com.

Two Tree Studios

Allison Samuels is more than an artist. She's an excavator of inner beauty, sawing, carving, and sanding rough timber from local fallen and downed trees to create amazingly graceful vases. "Unlike metal, wood has life of its own," she says. "I try to highlight its warmth and history in everything I make. Samuels embraces knots and kinks, playing up what's seen as imperfect in traditional woodworking, and hones organic curves that give each one-of-a-kind vessel the elegant balance of yogi in tree pose: serene yet energized. Fill one of her pieces with flowers, and nature comes full circle—from decades-old lumber to budding life. Samuels's vases come with steel flower frogs (and glass vials, in taller styles) for easy floral arranging. She also creates serving boards and custom furniture, all using rescued trunks and Forest Stewardship Council-certified lumber.

Shop Now: Two Tree Studios Vases, from $120 each, twotreestudios.com.

Bee Local Honey

"We make each jar from a single origin to preserve its sense of place," says Bee Local Honey owner Ben Jacobsen, who sources from 125 different hives across the Pacific Northwest. That's why a batch from eastern Oregon, where bees forage on buckwheat, tastes robust and smoky and pours as leisurely as molasses; whereas one from the Willamette Valley, home to a riot of wildflowers and rain-ripened berries, has a lighter color and floral and fruity notes. Unlike many commercial honeys, Bee Local's honeys aren't pasteurized or ultra-filtered.

Shop Now: Bee Local Honey Assorted Honeys, from $11, jacobsensalt.com.

Sheila Bridges

If you're savvy in the interior design world, there's a good chance you've seen the work of Sheila Bridges. Her Harlem Toile de Jouy wallpaper is part of the permanent collection at The Cooper Hewitt museum; her creations has been featured in countless interior design magazines. Two years after launching her business in 1994—predicated on her interior design services—the New York City-based creative knew she had more to bring to the table. And so, her wallpaper and furniture business was born, right in Manhattan. Her wallcoverings in particular, are reflective of her locale, and speak to the stereotypes embedded into the African American experience. They are one of the pillars of her brands and have since been expanded into upholstery and additional home goods.

Shop Now: Sheila Bridges Design Harlem Toile Decals, $65, sheilabridges.com.

Botanica Workshop

Gorgeous, high-quality, and sustainably made lingerie is always a worthwhile luxury in our book. Botanica Workshop's Misa Miyagawa, the former ready-to-wear designer who launched this Los Angeles-based line of sweet nothings in 2012, was searching, fruitlessly, for stylish options made from eco-friendly fabric, and ended up taking matters into her own hands. "I use silk and domestically milled organic cotton with a pared-down aesthetic made to fit in any wardrobe," Miyagawa says of her artfully cut underwear, bralettes, and loungewear, all manufactured locally. Pick your size, and slip into something far more comfortable.

Bryr Studio

After dabbling in ceramics, leather crafting, and shoemaking, San Francisco-based Isobel Schofield happily found her true calling with clogs. Each pair of Bryrs is made to order by one of eight talented women in Schofield's studio. And with 25 flattering styles and a painterly palette of supple leathers available, consider yourself warned: It'll be hard to pick just one pair.

Calico Wallpaper and Studio Cope

First, we fell for Calico Wallpaper's made-to-order wallpaper. Now, Nick and Rachel Cope, the brand's husband-and-wife duo, have launched a new collection of seriously lust-worthy, ready-made wallpapers, fabrics, and pillows under the name Studio Cope. The results—featuring painterly designs, watercolor brushstrokes, Japanese suminagashi marbling, and ombré techniques—gorgeously blur the line between classic and modern.

Ron Nicole

Ronni Nicole Robinson creates what she calls floral fossils—namely because she has always been intrigued by flowers, something that dates back to her childhood. The artist creates these botanical renderings using concrete and plaster, using a method that takes weeks from start to finish. Nothing about her creations are overly curated or composed: Flowers are whimsically pressed into clay, as a nod to the natural surroundings they were taken from.

Her work is also intensely timely: She can only work when there are flowers available, which is why the majority of her creative process happens during the summer, when blooms are at their peak. Purchasing her reliefs involves a wait (sign up for her waitlist here), which makes them that much more special—ultimately, they immortalize a moment in time.

Amana Woolen Mill

Buttery-soft and startlingly sturdy, Amana Woolen Mill's snuggle-worthy (and machine-washable!) blankets are woven with care from American-grown cotton and wool. First crafted in the Iowa River Valley nearly 160 years ago by German immigrants, today, the blankets are made by a group of local artisans working with descendants to carry on the handmade tradition.

Silvia Song

When it comes to the work of California-based woodcrafter Silvia Song, less is more. Trained as an architect, the Brazil-born maker eventually left the field to pursue the art of carving. Today, her timeless wooden pieces, which may have a minimal design, promise to leave a maximum (velvety-smooth) impact in any space.

Alice Ogden

Sourcing all the materials for her work locally and sustainably, New Hampshire-based basket maker Alice Ogden weaves every creation with the utmost care. Embracing form and function in every piece, the self-taught artisan also tops off every basket with her signature hand-carved handles.

Ayako & Family

For these Washington-based jam-makers, canning the essence of summer is a family affair. For the past decade, Tokyo transplant Ayako Gordon has teamed up with organic farmer Katsumi Taki to turn Taki's second-choice fruits into a delectable spread. Today, Gordon's daughter helps run their business, Ayako & Family, continuing the trio's "made with love" philosophy.

Shop Now: Ayako & Family Farm Exclusive Jams, $14, ayakoandfamily.com.

The Shelter Collection

Inspired by dreamy muses, from colors of the southwestern sky to artist Georgia O'Keeffe, ceramacist Erin Reitz's company The Shelter Collection is where elegance meets modern design. First launching her work as a fashion designer, today the North Carolinian handcrafts gorgeous glassblown and locally harvested clay creations to create one-of-a-kind pieces worth passing down.

• Learn More About Erin's Work

Black Swan Handmade

Stirring, scooping, and serving become infinitely more beautiful when you have one of Park Swan's creations in hand. The Virginia sculptor uses traditional metal and woodworking techniques to forge, sand, and polish every piece available at Black Swan Handmade. Committed to sourcing all his materials from the United States, it's his passionate attention to detail—subtle curves, textured finishes, signature rivets—that truly sets his work apart.

Rickettes Indigo

Reviving time-tested farming methods, Chinami and Rowland Ricketts are on a mission to recapture the art of indigo-dying with their company Rickettes Indigo. The Indiana-based couple not only focuses on crafting beautiful and distinctively heirloom-worthy textiles, but they also pride themselves on incorporating historical and environmentally sustainable methods.

• Learn More About Rickettes Indigo

Leaves & Flowers

If there's one thing that Ann Morton and Emily Erb know, it's a cup of really, really good tea. That's why the two friends teamed up on Leaves & Flowers, where they concoct heady herbal brews, sourced from sustainable farms across California, Oregon, Vermont, and North Carolina. Each brew, from cult favorite Ajna to the bright and refreshing Flower Sun Tea, are highly aromatic and visually vibrant, and guaranteed to transport you from the very first sip.

Kalon Studios

Believing that high-quality furniture need not compromise a beautiful design or sustainable practice, Los Angeles-based Michaele Simmering and Johann Pauwen of Kalon Studios are passionate about building ethical pieces made to last. Their family-friendly line only uses biodegradable, nontoxic, and food-safe materials so you—and Mother Nature—can live in harmony.

Richland Rum

As the only single-estate rum producers in the country, Karin and Erik Vonk not only do all harvesting and distilling on their property, but they start each batch with only the purest organic Georgia sugarcane instead of molasses, an inexpensive and less flavorful alternative. Plus, each Richland Rum mixture is aged for up to six years in barrels made of Wisconsin white oak, resulting in a spirit that transcends tiki drinks and cola pairings.

Sandback

In a converted garage surrounded by 30 acres of lush New Hampshire forest, Peter Sandback spends his days transforming basic materials—wood, nails, glue—into works of intricate beauty. Sandback finds inspiration all over: Japanese katagami stencils, indigo prints, old textiles, even the infomercial fad the BeDazzler. While the tables are elaborately embellished, he still keeps his methods and materials basic. "There's no mystery in how I construct the tables," he says. After he erects a piece by hand, he lays down a pattern, pre-drills holes, then glues in aluminum, brass, or black resin nails. Once they're dry, he cuts them flush to the surface and sands everything down to a smooth, satiny finish.

Leontine Linens

Working out of her charming New Orleans studio, Jane Scott Hodges of Leontine Linens isn't just making personalized heirloom linens with a contemporary twist: She's telling a story. "We wake up every day in a bed, dry off with a towel after a shower, use napkins and tablecloths at meals," she says. "Linens are some of our most intimate objects; they should be special."

• Learn More About Jane's Work

Simon Pearce

When glass-and-ceramics artist Simon Pearce moved his business from Ireland to the United States in 1981, he fell in love with a 25,000-square-foot vacant mill on the Ottauquechee River, in Vermont. It wasn't just the picturesque location that lured him but also its potential for hydropower. "I set up shop and quickly added a turbine to produce electricity," says Pearce. "It made us self-sufficient and a little kinder to the planet." The turbine powers the company's flagship store–restaurant in Quechee—as well as, most important, its glassblowing furnaces. "Glass furnaces are usually powered by gas, but we use electricity," he says. "It allows us to produce a very high-quality glass that has the same refractory index as crystal but without the lead." Yet unlike special-occasion crystal, a Simon Pearce glass piece is made to be enjoyed every day.

Shop Now: Simon Pearce Woodstock Pendant, $1,775, and Nantucket Bowls, from $75 each, simonpearce.com.

General Pencil Company

Even in the digital age, pencils are everywhere—in the classroom, in the art studio, and throughout the home. The longest continuously operated pencil company in the United States, and also one of the last, General Pencil Company has played an indispensable role in keeping it that way. Founded in 1889 by Edward Weissenborn and his son, the company still churns out boxes and boxes of pencils at its Jersey City, New Jersey, factory every day.

The manufacturing process is the same as it was more than a century ago. "We barrel-mix our graphite and drawing formulas," says Katie Weissenborn Vanoncini, president and great-great-granddaughter of the founder. And despite pressure to move operations out of the U.S. to reduce costs, General Pencil isn't budging. "We are staying here," she says. "We don't want to exist otherwise."

There's much to admire about General Pencil's elegant pencils and charcoal art supplies, but its commitment to the environment is especially laudable. The company uses western-cedar wood from California and Oregon; it's "sustainable and strong, sharpens smoothly, and smells really good," says Weissenborn Vanoncini. And in addition to using packaging made from recycled and recyclable material, General Pencil sends its sawdust waste to Duraflame, where it's turned into fire logs for homes.

Shop Now: General Pencil Company Cedar Pointe Graphite Pencils, $24 for 3 dozen, generalpencil.com.