Warm Earth Pottery & Cosmetics: About Us

After graduating from California State University Chico while studying under the guidance of Professor Jack Windsor in ceramics (glaze calculations and functional ceramic design) California native, Douglas Leiker went on to create Warm Earth Pottery in 1975.

While selling pottery in his retail store in downtown Chico, he noticed the large number of people purchasing makeup in the cosmetics store next door and decided to take a look at what these cosmetics were made out of. Upon researching the ingredients of various products, Douglas discovered he knew many of the raw materials being used in color cosmetics due to his chemistry background in ceramic clay and glazes.

It was during these moments of reading the ingredients of numerous cosmetic products he thought, why not make his own cosmetics and package them in his own line of stoneware and porcelain pottery?

Warm Earth Cosmetics was started five years later by Douglas in 1980. No other company was using hand-thrown, hand-glazed, high-fired stoneware and porcelain as a vessel for packaging color cosmetics in an exclusive manner. After a few years of research, product development and testing, Douglas finally had established a line of blush and eye shadow products that could be sold within his ceramics. Not only does this allow for customers to enjoy their cosmetics from a piece of art, but also for the reuse of these ceramics after finishing the product. The customer will want to KEEP the handmade ceramic piece of art well after the contents are gone (instead of merely throwing away a plastic container package).

Warm Earth Cosmetics has sold products across the USA, Central and South America, and to countries in Europe. Warm Earth Cosmetics has maintained business for the past forty-five years while the products have only become better.

In 2022 Douglas Leiker received a special award from California State University, Chico: Distinguished Alumni Award in the College of Humanities & Fine Arts. Here is the link for further reading:

https://today.csuchico.edu/2022-distinguished-alumni/

https://today.csuchico.edu/distinguished-alumnus-douglas-leiker/

We hope you will try our products and tell us what you think from our Contact Us page.

Here are a few examples of Warm Earth Pottery which package our line of blush/mineral makeup in along with ceramic vessels for other uses.

Here are Videos showing some of the process in making and creating the ceramics by Warm Earth Pottery.