In 2009, graphic designer Sean Tice and Parsons graduate student Kristy Hadeka teamed up to start Brooklyn Slate, a company devoted to selling high-quality, locally sourced slate products. The idea took off, and the duo now sells everything from cheese boards to garden markers out of their shop in Red Hook.
Edible Brooklyn is excited to team up with Brooklyn Slate for What’s Cooking on Wednesday, November 13 event that will highlight talented, local cratsmen and their beautiful serving ware. In anticipation, We spoke with Sean to learn more about Brooklyn Slate, their products and what they’ll be selling at the event.
Edible Brooklyn: Where does your slate come from?
Sean Tice: There’s a 24-mile stretch of slate quarries that are unique to the NY-Vermont border, and Kristy’s grandfather bought a couple in 1946. Back in the day, most roofs had slate tiles, but synthetic is now used so often that slate has fallen out of favor. We visited the quarries in 2009 and realized that the slate could be turned into beautiful serving pieces. Today we get all of our slate from the quarries, and we cut, clean, and package them in Brooklyn.
EB: Have you seen anyone else doing this in New York?
ST: As far as I know, we’re the only ones in New York that are doing this.
EB: What are some of your best sellers?
ST: Our best seller is definitely the 10 x 14 cheeseboard. Our 5 x 18 cheeseboard is our number two seller – it’s unique because of its unconventional long shape. When we first started, we also found that people were asking what they should put on the slate, so we started selling foods on the site. We carry a limited selection of foods, and many are local.
EB: What will you be selling at What’s Cooking?
ST: We’ll bring boards of various sizes, from our little butter boards to much larger slate cheese boards. We sell in a lot of shops, but we think What’s Cooking will be a great opportunity to illustrate to home chefs that our boards are a great alternative to traditional cheeseboards.
For more information on Brooklyn Slate, click here. To purchase tickets to What’s Cooking, click here.
