By: Shelby Cokeley
Neon pink with iridescent glitter. Tie-dye with rhinestones. What about dark purple with stars; some galaxy vibes?
Or maybe a classic Rastafari flag? Don’t worry, the white lighter and glow-in-the-dark stickers are included with purchase — free of charge!
This is the selection of cannabis accessories women unfortunately face all too often; a sea of hyper feminine and stoner stereotypes.
Female-identifying customers lacking those stylistic preferences are usually left without a player in the game.
“As a woman who doesn’t identify with Rasta, hippie, or ‘stoner culture,’ but likes the plant, I wanted to make a pipe I would feel comfortable leaving out and not have it signify anything but ‘I like nice things and I like to smoke weed.’,” said Ariel Zimman, ceramicist and owner of Stonedware Company, a design-centric smoke wares business.
This personal desire, and a nearly untapped market, prompted the Portland, Ore. dweller to pursue ceramic pipe making. Good thing she had a little experience behind the pottery wheel.
Zimman, a longtime lover of ceramics, attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston, Mass., where she was better introduced to cannabis culture.
“I went to art school, so they basically hand you a bag of weed with your textbooks when you start,” she laughed. And while one might assume Zimman to be a canna-connoisseur, she says her usage has come in waves over the years.
Zimman’s work with ceramics, however, has proven itself a constant in her life. The Northern Virginia native began taking pottery lessons in the third-grade and says she was hooked from the first lesson.
Zimman’s creative process ultimately led to a career in ceramic home décor as a self-employed artist in 2013, following her move to the Pacific Northwest. Stonedware Co. and the ceramists’ studio currently reside on Portland’s Eastside at 1511 SE Holgate Blvd., although most sales are done online.
“The thing that changed it all was in 2015 I made a Bernie Sanders pipe for the 2016 election, before Hillary had the nomination, and at that point I was just selling pipes on the side at shows,” Zimman explained.
Then, she did just a single interview with the Center for Public Integrity — a web-based, nonprofit investigative journalism outlet — and ended up on the first trending page of Reddit.
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“To hit the legal limit on how much she could donate to Sanders, she would need to sell about 400 more — likely a stretch for her one-woman operation,” reporter Michael Beckel wrote of Zimman for the center (co-published with the Washington Post) on Feb. 24, 2016. Little did anyone know the power of ‘burning one for Bernie’ and the sheer determination of Zimman.
“Following that coverage, almost every major media source picked the pipe up and I had over 800 sales within the first two days of that happening,” she said.
“Meanwhile, I can produce like four at a time and it really pushed me into a major sink or swim moment.”
And swim she did. With all the money she made off those pipes Zimman was indeed able to donate $2,700 — the highest dollar amount that can be accepted — to Sanders’ campaign, another $6,000 to Planned Parenthood and pay off every penny of her student loan debt.
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During this nearly overnight business boom, Zimman dashed to get an LLC for Stonedware and decided to seriously pursue pipe making.
The versatility of ceramics in this new context, beyond traditional glass blowing, brought with it a look, feel and experience not many creators were exploring at the time. Ceramics-making, cannabis-smoking, experience-creating pioneers.
“I can make them a different shape, I can make them feel better in your hand, I can make them work better,” Zimman realized. “So those became my design principles; I wanted them to look good, feel good, and smoke great.”
Beyond these tenants, Zimman noted the very personal aspects of smoking cannabis — how different each individual’s bond with the plant can be.
She embraced it, shaped it with her knack for unique and eye-catching aesthetics, and thus the GeoPipe was born. These particular Stonedware pipes market $80 to $140 each, depending on their size and detail, like 22K gold edging and other custom design work.
“Stonedware pipes feel great in your hand and look chic on your table,” Brittney Mesica, writer for Stoner Magazine, says of the business’s aesthetically pleasing pipes.
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She, along with many of the business’s Instagram followers and taggers agree; Zimman creates smoke ware that’s made to be displayed as art.
“Pipes in general are very intimate objects — you’re putting it to your mouth, you’re using cannabis as medication, you’re using it recreationally — and I think it often becomes like a ritual in your life. So why not do that out of something you also find beautiful instead of just a tool?” Zimman said.
“We customize everything nowadays, like even our toothbrushes are pretty, so it’s not just about utility.”
It’s true; the cannabis industry has gone far beyond function. For Zimman, this comes with a set of pros and cons.
Sure, the ever-growing industry and legalization of cannabis makes for less anxiety over her commerce site being taken down or being kicked off credit card processors. However, this also results in more competition. Big competition.
“Once federal legalization happens — which I think it will eventually if the world doesn’t implode before then — so many big businesses, pharmaceuticals, and the tobacco industry are going to already have their hands in it too and it’s going to change everything,” Zimman said.
Though she still believes in the power of the plant and what sets Stonedware Co. apart from other smoke ware businesses.
She admits there’s been a bit of good luck and good timing in these regards. In the beginning of her cannabis-adjacent venture, Zimman says a lot of head-shop “dudes” had trouble seeing her vision. “It’s a weird shape.” “The bowl’s too small.” “I don’t get it,” they would say.
Thankfully, they didn’t have to get it. Not only was Zimman more content remaining a smaller-scale, independent business, she was also in some great company.
“From then on, because there’s such a supportive ‘women in cannabis’ community here in Portland, I’ve been super lucky in that I just don’t deal with shitty men,” she says. “I’ve been privileged because I don’t need them or their financial support.”
The business owner currently manages all of Stonedware Co.’s operations both online and off, on top of creating all of the pipes themselves.
Zimman has recently handed much of Stonedware Co.’s 16-step ceramics process to her skilled assistant Daniela Myers-Guzman.
“Bernie’s been keeping me company today while I glaze,” Myers-Guzman tells Zimman of her friendly canine companion and studio dog Bernadette — ironically named prior to her Sander’s pipe success.
Listening to music and frequent pet breaks are what makes long studio days completely worth the sometimes overwhelming amount of production according to Myers-Guzman.
While her talented assistant holds down the fort, Zimman says she wants 2020 to be the year she gets back into art.
“I turned my passion and hobby into my job which definitely took some of the fun out of it, so now it’s more about getting back to creating for me,” she said. “I’m an artist and what comes next will be a natural transition.”
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