Give the gift of handcrafted beauty this holiday season
|By Kelsey Smith
As the largest manufacturer of wooden bowls in the United States, Holland Bowl Mill carves out roughly 1,000 bowls a week — all while preserving a 150-year American tradition.
The business has a detailed history, over 90 years to be exact, and has been run by the same family since the beginning.
“One of the main reasons people should purchase our products is because one, they’re made in America, and two, we’re a local company; we originated as the original wooden shoe factory here in 1927,” said Kory Gier, vice president. “I’m the fourth generation; we’re a small business, and I’m all about keeping the money local in our community.”
Aside from bowls, the mill produces live edge serving and cutting boards, wooden utensils, candle holders, grilling planks and chips, coasters, wooden Christmas trees, planters and more. The mill offers custom personalization on its products, making perfect Christmas gifts for friends and loved ones.
Personalized engraving on the underside of bowls only takes a few minutes to complete, and it comes free of charge.
“Our busiest online retail season is from Black Friday up until Christmas,” Gier said. “On Christmas Day when you think about it, there are 500 people opening up our bowls in the morning,” Gier said. “It’s just kind of cool to think about your product being distributed across all of the United States.”
On tours of the mill, visitors can go behind the scenes of its bowl-making process and see how the handcrafted pieces are created from start to finish.
Holland Bowl Mill
120 James St.
Holland
616-396-6513
hollandbowlmill.com