finishesGlaze & clay
Glazes mixed by hand. Fired at cone 5/6. Made to live with the food.
Each finish has a ground
Three are glazes. Light Speckle and Dark Speckle are two clay bodies, cream and smoked, under a warm white glaze. We shot each against its complement, the color opposite it on the wheel: Terracotta on teal, Mustard on lavender, Cocoa on olive. The ground makes the color read truer.
Cocoa
A deep, matte, earthen brown. The closest glaze in the line to the unglazed clay underneath. Reads warm in daylight, dark and serious in evening light. The most-ordered glaze among hospitality buyers.
- Family
- Matte earth-tone
- Finish
- Matte
- Pairs with
- Light Speckle, Mustard
Terracotta
A warm, matte, earthen orange-red. Pulls toward rust in shadow and toward sunset in direct light. Reads complex in daylight, deep in evening light. The Pho Bowl is fired in this glaze by default.
- Family
- Matte earth-tone
- Finish
- Satin, varied
- Pairs with
- Cocoa, Light Speckle
Mustard
Warm honey-gold. Holds visual weight against darker neighbors at the table. Works as the warm note in a cool palette, the calm note in a warm one.
- Family
- Matte earth-tone
- Finish
- Matte, slightly varied
- Pairs with
- Cocoa, Dark Speckle
Light Speckle
A cream clay body under a warm white glaze. Natural minerals in the clay bloom through the glaze in the firing, so no two pieces speckle alike. The body stays pale cream, the flecks read dark against it. Quiet, daily, endlessly usable. The neutral that shows everything else off.
- Family
- Speckled stoneware
- Finish
- Satin, naturally varied
- Pairs with
- Cocoa, Terracotta
Dark Speckle
A second clay body, darker than Light Speckle, under a warm white glaze. The body fires to a smoked brown, and the minerals in it bloom through the glaze. Pulls weight against pale linens and lighter ware. The grounded note in the set.
- Family
- Speckled stoneware
- Finish
- Satin, naturally varied
- Pairs with
- Mustard, Terracotta
Sage
A green-grey with a glossy finish. Originally launched in the 2024 collection, and now off the line while we reformulate it for more consistent firing. Sage proved difficult to fire consistently, with too much variance between batches for the standards we hold the line to.
We will return Sage when we can hold it to the same dimensional and color tolerances as the rest of the line. Estimated relaunch: fall 2026.
We'll email you once, when Sage returns.
Glazes are mixed by hand, in small batches.
Every Forge glaze is tested before it earns a place in the line. Formulas run through dozens of test tiles, fired alongside production, until the color, the fit to the clay, and the wear all hold.
Batches are mixed small enough to use within a single production cycle. There is no master vat. Every order is fired with glaze mixed in the past few weeks. This is what lets us retire and relaunch glazes like Sage without carrying dead inventory.