Mike Metz is a ceramicist, painter, tennis coach, father, and consummate family man from Vancouver, WA. His rich, layered crystalline glazes are a foundational element of both the inspiration and atmosphere of Fundamental Artifact. There is no artist who has been more essential to our development than Mike.
I have long lived by an old adage from Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. In the book, Santiago, the book's young protagonist, is sitting in a town square in a small village in Spain contemplating a recurring dream: hidden treasure buried underneath the Egyptian Pyramids.
An old man approaches him. His name is Melchizedek, the King of Salem. He explains to the boy that he appears in different forms to people who are on the verge of abandoning their "Personal Legend" — a person's true calling or spiritual purpose. Melchizedek continues, telling Santiago that people give up their dreams, not because they are impossible, but because they come to believe a lie: that fate controls their lives rather than their own choices. Encouraging Santiago to answer the call of adventure, Melchizedek delivers one of the deepest truths in all of life.
"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."
I met Mike at a wedding. It was three weeks after I had the idea for Fundamental Artifact on a cobblestone street in Istanbul. I was back in the Pacific Northwest, officiating the ceremony between one of my best friends and Mike's daughter, Kristina. After the ceremony, Mike asked if I'd like to come back to his studio and pick out a mug for myself. "A mug," I thought, "that's cool."
It was so much more than a mug. Inside Mike's studio was a crystal garden, a 50-year collection of handmade ceramics glistening with life and color. For those who have not seen crystal glazes up close, they possess a certain energy and resonance unlike any other. Various cultures have understood the power of crystals for thousands of years, yet most of the crystals we see today are in jewelry, towers, or in stone form. In a glaze, crystals blossom like flowers, creating kaleidoscope mosaics of color and form.
Crystalline glazes are not new. Some of the oldest crystal work dates back more than a thousand years, to the Song Dynasty in China. In Vietnam, you can visit Bát Tràng, one of the world's oldest pottery villages. There you can see many modern forms of crystal glazes, which rely on zinc oxide and rare metals, with techniques being passed down through specific families for generations. Today, crystals are easier to work with, as modern kilns allow for incredibly precise management of environment and temperature.
Still, crystals are more art than science. Even with the most precise control, you never quite know how the crystals will react. The most subtle variation in environment, even where different pieces are located relative to others in the kiln, can cause wild variations in both color and the crystals themselves. They can explode across the surface in sparkling, bubbly spheres, they can make bowties, they can splinter like ice. You just never know.
That makes Mike's work all the more incredible. Unlike any other crystal artist alive today, Mike's ability to layer glazes, to stack them in unbelievably sophisticated combinations, creates gradations of color and dimension that are simply without equal. In all of my travels around the world, to galleries and villages and independent studios, never have I ever seen anything like it.
Which makes our meeting all the more improbable: a true miracle. How could it have been that I would meet the man, whom I consider to be the best crystal artist in the world, at my best friend's wedding? How could his work of a decades-long career be hidden in relative obscurity? And why did I meet him at exactly the perfect moment? It was something more than chance or circumstance could ever explain.
For as much as I admire Mike's work, and as irreplaceable as his style is to the creative world of Fundamental Artifact, it's Mike's enthusiasm, and his enduring positivity, and his faith in the vision I have for the company that has seen us through many a dull and dispiriting day.
He was exactly the help I needed.
In those early days, I still didn't know what, exactly, Fundamental Artifact would be. I understood the idea in a general sense, but it was difficult for me to know what form it would take. I did not have the experience, or a track record, to lean on. I had never done this before.
Yet Mike took the leap of faith. He retooled his studio, and we began collaborating on new collections and glazes. Our very first work was on a series of commemorative stones that combined earthy textures with human ashes — a deeply organic, personal way to remember a loved one. The results left us shaking our heads. The ashes were challenging to work with. I wanted something raw and volcanic. Instead, because of the nature of ash, we were getting melted marshmallows.
But Mike and I persisted, and through it all, he would always share an encouraging word. Through that process, I learned more about him, his family, his 4 daughters, his 8 grandchildren and counting. I learned about him as a father, and saw a glimpse of fatherhood and family that, for me, was seldom seen in the world. He truly loved his family with his whole heart.
Over time, we pivoted, the work improved, and we made progress. As a young artist myself, he continued to help me refine my vision and express my ideas. Today, we have over 100 unique items from Mike in our inventory. Soon, we'll be releasing an entirely new product, The Dreamstone, inspired by our earliest work together. We continue to collaborate almost daily on new ideas for the future of FA.
I truly believe that when we want something bad enough, and we're willing to strive, and sweat, and sacrifice for it, something really does change in the architecture of the universe. Doors begin to open. Opportunities present themselves. People arrive in your life at just the right time, and with just what you need to take that next step. It may not happen exactly how you imagine it, but it does happen, and continues to as you deepen your relationship with that which you desire.
For me, Mike is proof of that. The right person, at the right moment, with a key that opens a door to a whole new world.
Mike is a graduate of Lewis & Clark University. His work has been featured at various art shows through the west coast and into Alaska. He was the "Best of Show" winner at the Oregon Ceramic Showcase in 2008. He lives in Vancouver, WA with his wife, hosting family and friends for dinners and hangouts most days of the week.
