The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

To Each Her Own: All who come into Petroglyph--including Karen Winter, shown here painting an urn--create their own masterpieces.

Petroglyph brings art to the masses

New Lincoln Avenue store expects to bring out neophyte artists

By Maggie Benson

Nearly four years ago, Jennifer Rubin developed a concept that would bring a new form of entertainment to the masses--something that didn't revolve around the banal standbys of eating, drinking or sports. Rubin's concept was a more sophisticated one: do-it-yourself ceramic art. Apparently the masses were ready for a more highbrow form of entertainment, since the first Petroglyph store, located in Santa Cruz, immediately earned high praise and a huge clientele.

Rubin and her husband, Michael, have been able to keep that momentum going. Last Saturday the team opened its sixth store, this one in Willow Glen at 1140 Lincoln Ave., near the new Peet's Coffee and Tea and Noah's Bagels. Meanwhile, across the country, wannabe Petroglyph stores are capitalizing on Rubin's idea.

"We pioneered this kind of industry; now they are all over the country," Michael Rubin, the company's CEO, explained.

As for the original Petroglyph, its owners aren't bothered by the knockoffs. Michael Rubin says as long as his store remains high-quality, Petroglyph will stay ahead of the competition. Rubin says he and his wife--now vice president of development--won't franchise. "It's the best way to keep the quality high. It's important," he commented.

The team is also keeping ahead of the competition by rolling out several new stores. In the past two months, Petroglyphs have opened in Sacramento, Roseville and Willow Glen.

"We really doubled the size of our company in the past two months," Michael Rubin said.

The pair decided to open a store in Willow Glen mainly because of customer input. "People sent [us] email; we talked to people in stores. In a way, it was very unscientific. ...Sometimes you have to go on a hunch that this is a great place to be. Willow Glen is a really rapidly evolving area, and I'd like to be a part of that," Rubin said. "A number of our customers in Santa Cruz, Palo Alto and Los Gatos said, 'You guys should open in Willow Glen.' Apparently, a lot of them lived in Willow Glen."

One of those customers was Alison Brown, a Willow Glen resident who frequents the Los Gatos store. Rubin said Brown lobbied hard to bring the store to her neighborhood. "Petroglyph is a unique concept. I think that Willow Glen is a perfect location because the lounge will attract additional people to downtown," she commented. "Downtown is going through some major transformations, and Petroglyph is the type of place that will attract other businesses of the same caliber."

The concept of Petroglyph is simple. The store provides the unfired pots and paints and brushes, and customers create their own personalized masterpieces. Petroglyph fires the wares and returns them to the client hard, bright and shining.

"People love this," Rubins explains. "We aren't a ceramic store, we're a social store." Customers are invited to eat, drink and be merry as they create, provided they bring their own food. "We have people bring in little picnics," Rubins says. Petroglyph founders call the concept "participatory retail." Alison Brown just calls it fun.

"Petroglyph is inviting and generates creativity in every individual that walks in the door," she says. "The staff is exceptional and is committed to guiding every guest in their masterpiece venture."

Petroglyph sells a variety of unfired ceramic shapes, including teacups, bowls, mugs and plates, and for a flat rate, clients can use the store's unlimited supply of paints, stencils, scrapers and brushes--the list goes on. The store offers classes and activities, and most even house small libraries that carry quotation books and instructional art books.

Michael Rubin said he's confident the concept will take hold in Willow Glen, particularly because of the store's transformative nature. He explained that in one day, the Los Gatos store could be hosting an 8-year-old's birthday party, a group of lawyers from a local firm or a couple having a romantic date.

"Not many places can morph based on time of day or day of the week," he explained, adding that the store offers one of the few venues where parents and kids can work on a project that's equally enjoyable to both. "We love being a sophisticated place that's very kid-friendly."

But most of all, Rubin said, it will work for the same reason every other store has taken off: People are creative.

"People are phenomenally more creative than they give themselves credit for. Our staff is trained to help people release [their artistic nature]," he said. "There's a little bit of art therapy there."

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