Chentell Stiritz’s Convivial Production is growing fast

The Convivial Production studio is quiet today, save for the classical NPR feed spilling from her iPhone in the corner. Chentell Stiritz, the founder, designer and chief maker behind the ceramics company, has invited me to tour the space in Rosedale.

It’s a sunny weekday morning, and Stiritz’s helpers — one part-time employee, several interns — aren’t here yet. The studio’s sliding garage door stands open, revealing her full collection: endless stacks of diamond-shaped serving dishes, planters, carved candleholders and vases in various stages of production.

You can tell how close to completion a given item is by its color. The dark-gray pieces are freshest; nearly two dozen geometric fruit bowls in that shade are laid out on two large tables to dry. The red-brown pieces have been fired once and await a glaze. Stiritz favors a bright, pristine white glaze — and the finished pieces gleam from their resting spots. Aside from the Kansas state flag hanging on one wall, the shop is a mix of these subtle, prewhite hues and Stiritz’s precise lines.

I see just one gray, clay-covered wheel for throwing, and it looks child-size. It’s hard to believe that the hundreds of creations in the space all came from that machine, especially considering that Stiritz has even more of her products stocked at about 10 stores in the Kansas City area — including West Elm on the Plaza, Future vintage store, and the Coveted Home — as well as five out-of-state shops and several other online retailers.

“That’s where the help comes in,” Stiritz tells me. She gestures to the tables. “This is West Elm’s next order, and it’s 40 fruit bowls. There’s no way I can make 40 fruit bowls myself. I don’t even want to make them myself. And for a few pieces, we have molds, so there’s no throwing.”

Stiritz, a 24-year-old native of Hawaii, moved to Chicago to study ceramic arts in college before settling here a couple of years ago. Before she came to the Midwest, some of its industrial elements were a mystery to her.

“The architecture is much different, much more plantation-looking where I’m from,” she says. “I’d never seen a water tower before. The only bridge I’d seen was a wooden bridge. Moving here, I was really fascinated by the structures. I think I pull a lot from that.

“The concept is conviviality, which is the joining of people to eat and drink,” Stiritz says of her business. “It’s about social vitality and people joining and dining with each other. What we’re doing is setting the scene for conviviality with the pieces that you dine off of and the decor that surrounds you. And the aesthetic within that is just a personal taste — I like everything to be clean, with sharp lines, and it kind of all references architecture.”

Stiritz seems almost to blend in with her products: Her gray shirt, black pants and cream-colored apron are all splashed with clay residue, evidence of which also smudges her long brown braid of hair. She speaks quietly but directly — like a shy person who has learned how to be in charge. There hasn’t been much time for such lessons: Convivial Production turned a year old in April, and Stiritz has seen the demand for her products swell within that period.

“My strategy has been to both hide and hustle at the same time,” she says with a small laugh. “The only advertising I’ve really done is on Instagram, and I think a lot of shops have found me that way. I sell on Etsy — that’s my one direct to consumers. It’s this weird balance of publishing my products but not overdoing it. I want to be able to balance and fill orders as they come in, but I also want to grow.”

To that end, she has just returned from a business trip to Haiti, where she visited the production facilities for GO Exchange, a division of Kansas City’s Global Orphan Project. GO Exchange is an online boutique offering goods from global retailers; the profits from the sale of those goods go toward providing care for orphaned and abandoned children around the world. GO Exchange, Stritiz tells me, is interested in developing a ceramics program with her help.

“They took me to their production facility and helped me see what their company looks like on the ground,” Stiritz says. “A lot of what they do is educational and making sure people are work-certified. They’re creating these great work environments in the midst of a struggling economic climate.”

She goes on: “When I was there, we went around and learned how different ceramics were made within that community, and we connected with local makers and talked about how to bring them on-board. Now that we’re back, we’re just trying to figure out what’s next and how to move forward. The next few months could be a pretty changing time for the company.”

Conviviality was always about community, she says, but now, she can reach beyond the dining table.

“What’s on my mind now is how to invest in the global community,” Stiritz says. “I think it’s been in me for a while and I just followed what seemed right. I’m glad it’s working out this way.”