Mackenzie Andersen
Mackenzie Andersen was raised in Maine since the age of four when her parents moved from urban environs to the coast of Maine to start a small ceramic art, design and production studio. The handcrafted designs became an instant grass roots collectible. The business grew and spawned a small community of ceramic production studios in the Boothbay Region.which taught the skills of ceramic production to the local community and created it’s own pool of skilled labor.
Mackenzie attended Pratt Institute and lived there after in New York city for several decades where she was involved in a series of arts related enterprises, never quite finding what she was looking for until she returned to Maine to carry on the family ceramic art and design business. Let it be said that the business was structured for full independence. The Andersens designed, produced marketed and wholesaled their own ceramic line The enterprise was financed by the sale of Weston and Brenda’s Levitt town style house which Weston was able to purchase as a veteran of World War II. Other than a modest small business loan which helped to launch the business, the Andersen enterprises were financed throughout their hstory with the “roll over” capitalization method of self-generated profits. The business was directly connected to the home in the manner of a farm and so family and business merged into one on-going process, just as design, production, marketing, retailing and wholesaling merged into one continuous activity in which the participants often wore rotating hats.
The family business, in which Mackenzie was raised, was established with a mission to create a hand-made product affordable to the middle classes. Those were the golden days of plastic and of the American middle class – a time when the diistribution of wealth took the form of a bell curve with the largest amount of wealth distributed amoung the largest number of people, as Mackenzie’s dad would often say. The Andersen lines of wild life sculpture and contemporary functional design became symbols of the Maine Life style, widly recognized nationally and internationally. The classic designs maintained their marketability throughout the decades and throughout changing economic conditions. Andersen Studio remained committed throughout their history to retaining their identity as American made craft and design.
As a second generation member of a family business, Mackenzie has her own mission to achieve, which is to re-conceptualize Andersen Stoneware as a business that can be transferred and continued through a community larger than family. The present political socio-economic climate presents huge challenges to that goal, which at times may make the option of manufacturing overseas seem more realistic. However in honor of the long and difficult struggle in which Mackenzie’s parents persevered before achieving success, giving up on the idea of retaining Andersen Studio- Andersen Design as an American made craft is “unacceptable” as the president would say. and so, Mackenzie preseveres in the dream of leaving the fascinating lifestyle, process, and activity of a creative ceramic art and design business to the benefit of future generations of Americans.
Mackenzie Andersen participates in all aspects of the business but hopes to see more time to concentrate on ceramic arts, which will be made possible to the degree that the transformation of Andersen Studio into a creative American enterpriise, which can be transferred to future generation, manifests as a developing team of inter-related businesses. (See Vision Statement) In recent months Mackenzie has been redesigning the web site and implementing SEO and social networking strategy. This is fascinating and creative work in its own right.
Mackenzie's Blogs