Pottery Barn owner Williams-Sonoma Inc. announced a major investment in its ongoing partnership with the nonprofit Nest with a pledge to source $50 million in ethically handcrafted products by 2025.
The Pottery Barn parent company began working with Nest in 2014. The female-founded nonprofit works to support the responsible growth and creative engagement of artisans and makers to build greater gender equity and economic inclusion. The organization operates programs in the United States and abroad that bring products from small makers to partners like Pottery Barn.
Nest and Pottery Barn previously worked together to create the Seal of Ethical Handicraft program, which sets industry standards for ethical handcraft work and became the second-largest source of employment for women globally. After becoming the first retailer to offer products with the Nest Seal, Pottery Barn has since impacted the lives of more than 3,600 global artisans.
One of those is quilter Alpana Mandal, who has been working from home for 14 years, creating products like the company’s Lilo handcrafted cotton quilt.
“Earnings from my quilting go into a deposit account for my children’s higher education, easing the financial load on my family,” she said.
This investment comes on the heels of several initiatives by Pottery Barn designed to improve both sustainability and equity, including a recent partnership with the Black Artists+Designers Guild and a sustainability plan that extends across Williams-Sonoma’s brands.
In celebration of the additional investment with Nest, Pottery Barn worked with Austin-based artist Aileen Fitzgerald to design an exclusive, limited-edition art print. For every piece sold during March, 25 percent of the purchase price will directly benefit Nest. Fitzgerald is a self-taught landscape painter whose work is heavily influenced by the surrounding Texas hill country. By using a dry brush technique, she emphasizes soft textures and blurred lines to create meaningful, serene scenes that ground the viewer in nature.
“The colors and delicacy of this painting are inspired by the strength of a woman’s softness,”Fitzgerald said.
New pieces from Nest artisans will be available seasonally in Pottery Barn stores and online starting March 1.