PPB February 2020

Sa l i sbur y, I nc . A Modern Take On An Old-World Craft The team behind supplier Salisbury, Inc. is comprised of skilled artisans who handcraft keepsake products to perfection. by Danielle Renda I n the promotional products industry, countless people play a role in a product’s creation, customization and distribution. The finished products transfer hands many times, from supplier to distributor, to client to end user, with dozens of people involved at every step until the product is placed in the recipients’ hands. But at Salisbury, Inc., an Easton, Maryland-based supplier, the hands that pass the company’s pewter, sterling silver and aluminum gifts, awards and keepsakes are the ones who breathe life into the metals. Behind Salisbury’s fine, high- quality products is a staff of 30 dedicated artisans, including four outside artists and metal spinners, who are responsible for handmaking all the company’s heirloom-quality products. “Our artisans are the heart of the company,” says Joe Bernstein, sales manager. Salisbury’s artists, who specialize in metal spinning, machining, centrifugal casting, soldering and finishing, can create nearly anything, from an engraved pewter keepsake dish to present to a board member who has completed their term, to a cast aluminum serving board to commemorate an employee milestone, or, for the more personal moments, a sterling silver teething ring rattle to celebrate the birth of a baby. Salisbury’s artisans take no shortcuts in the manufacturing process. “Every piece in the line is made by hand and may be handled more than 16 times,” says Bernstein. “There are machines involved, like a lathe, for instance, but all must be manipulated by highly skilled artisans.” It can take about two weeks to complete an order of 100 or more items from start to finish so Salisbury prepares by keeping a large inventory of products ready to pull at a moment’s notice. And the company’s full-time engravers— including a hand-engraver who uses old-world techniques to carve out the metal—can fulfill requests within just a few days. All the metalwork happens in Salisbury’s 50,000-square-foot facility in Easton, the company’s home since 1998. Founded in 1979, Salisbury was born after the merger of Kirk Pewter of Salisbury, Maryland, and Steiff Silver of Baltimore. When the merger happened, many of the artisans who worked for Kirk Pewter were uninterested in relocating from their coastal city to a major city more than two hours away, so they partnered with local businesses that invested in their work—and Salisbury was born. In its early days, Salisbury operated out of a small converted farmhouse, but after acquiring Webb Pewter and Sterling of Philadelphia in 1998, it relocated to its current facility. Not only are Salisbury’s products all handcrafted in its facility, but so is most of the pewter and sterling silver the company uses—in fact, none of its metal products are mass-produced—along with its cast aluminum line and its molds and models. And even though fine metal products are timeless in nature, Salisbury has also managed to adapt with 78 | FEBRUARY 2020 | CONNECT