After two years developing the first “contemporary ceramic studio” in Los Angeles, Petroglyph was launched in 1993 to create a space for adult women, their friends and their families, to have a creative and social experience.
Jennifer Kurtz Rubin was frustrated with art classes where she continually had to buy a bunch of supplies on day 1, attend sessions on a weekly schedule, and where invariably she’d get busy before the course ended and be left with half-finished projects and boxes of unused tools. She wanted to have a creative outlet for her and her friends that didn’t always focus on food or games. Jennifer would say “if women ran the world, bars would be spaces to get together after work, or go with kids, and be able to enjoy some creative time. An added bonus would be that someone else would clean up the mess.
Jennifer and her husband Michael left the film industry in Hollywood and moved to beach community of Santa Cruz, Califorina, to launch their business and to start a family.
Over the next four years they opened six studios in Northern California and pioneered what became a national phenomenon, an industry of ceramic studios. These studios have become part of popular culture- appearing in TV shows and movies (“Friends”, “Jon & Kate Plus Eight” and “Space Chimps”); Petroglyph has been featured in national magazines like Forbes and Sunset. In 2000, with the birth of their first child, the Rubins closed three locations, but continued to operate four in the Bay Area. Jennifer is currently president of Petroglyph; Michael acts as CEO, and also has a career as an author, web and digital video expert. After more than 15 years Petroglyph is still one of the largest and most successful businesses in the industry, and still privately owned and operated.
For more information on the early history of the contemporary studio industry, click here.