Swept Away: Utilitarian Household Goods from a San Francisco Designer

Hannah Beatrice Quinn, a recent graduate of the furniture design program at California College of the Arts, is fascinated by ordinary household goods; for her 2014 thesis, she fabricated a series of domestic essentials, including brooms, dustpans, and ironing boards. “I strive to understand what makes an object precious in the eyes of an individual,” she says. “As a maker, I want to craft objects that help consumers reconnect with the histories, processes, and materials used in the making of ordinary household goods.”

A range of her brooms and dustpans is available from Workshop Residence in San Francisco or directly from Hannah Beatrice Quinn.

Above: Hannah Quinn’s Handmade Broom is $48 from the Workshop Residence in San Francisco; the handles are available in a range of woods (and stains) and with either black or regular straw. Hannah makes the wood broom handles and Duane Penner, a third-generation broom maker from Dinuba, California, adds the finishing touches. Photograph by Micah Gibson.

Above: As part of her 2014 thesis project at Cal Arts, Hannah designed a Dustpan Block Set; $98 from Workshop Residence in SF. (The Dustpan without broom is $54.)

Above: Each broom is signed by Hannah.

For a roundup of our favorite brooms, go to The Artful Sweep: Display-Worthy Household Brooms.