Danforth Pewter

About Us

From our workshop in Middlebury, Vermont, we make American pewter inspired by ancient craft and modern day design. We create beautiful objects — rooted in simplicity and functionality — designed to be used: Christmas ornaments passed down through generations, oil lamps to light cozy homes, jewelry to adorn the everyday. We honor the metal, we celebrate milestones, and we elevate the everyday with handcrafted pewter designed to stand the test of time.

The Danforth family has a long and rich history in pewter dating back to 1733. The husband-and-wife team of Fred and Judi Danforth revived the family tradition when they founded Danforth Pewter in Vermont in 1975. Since then, we have been handcrafting 100% lead-free fine pewter jewelry and accessories, kitchenware, serveware, and home décor.

Oil lamps are one of our signature items. Each lamp is spun by hand on an antique lathe, then fitted with a nickel-plated bronze burner from France. Not only are they gorgeous, they provide beautiful illumination for a dining room table or a mantel. They're also great in a power outage - no batteries to worry about. Our large lamps burn over 60 hours on a single tank of paraffin oil, and they are odorless and smokeless.

We also spin plates, cups, vases, candlestick bases, pitchers, salt and pepper mills, bowls, goblets, beakers, mugs, and wine coasters on our antique lathes.

The other way we work with the metal is by casting molten pewter into molds. First, Judi Danforth sculpts a model out of jeweler's wax. Then we use that to make a master mold. We cast molten pewter into the mold to make master models, and we use those to make a production mold.

We cast jewelry, holiday ornaments, serveware handles, pocket stones, buttons, charms, desk accessories, magnets and candle snuffers, among other things. Once they come out of the mold, they are meticulously finished, first by hand and then through a series of treatments and polishings that give the pewter its characteristic finish.

All the color is an enamel epoxy which our artisans apply by hand after a piece is finished.

Danforth operates eight of its own retail stores, all in Vermont. In addition the Workshop & Store in Middlebury, we have stores on Main Street in Middlebury, on Church Street in Burlington, and in the Cabot Annex on Rt. 100 in Waterbury, on Central Street in Woodstock, VT, in Portland, Maine, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Williamsburg, Virginia and National Harbor, Maryland.

Call us at 1-800-222-3142 or send us an email at info@danforthpewter.com anytime.