The Native Trails Story

Native Trails, a privately owned business based on the Central Coast of California, has been creating high quality, artisan-crafted kitchen and bath fixtures and home décor for nearly 15 years.

Naomi Neilson Howard, the Founder and CEO of Native Trails, discovered her passion for diverse cultures, artisan crafts, and sustainable practices early in life – during frequent childhood visits to Central Mexico. While studying at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Naomi spent a year abroad in Spain, where she explored artisan villages in Morocco and became enthralled with their cultural traditions.

Later, she researched and traveled extensively throughout Central Mexico, searching out remote villages where artisans practiced ancient craft traditions. An advocate for indigenous peoples and fair practices, she realized that, with some guidance, this craftsmanship could provide a reliable revenue stream for local micro-economies and bring the artisan handiwork into homes north of the border.

It was here that Native Trails was born.

Artisan Crafted from Raw Materials

Naomi worked with artisans specializing in ceramic tile and home decor, folk art of all types, and many different types of metals for years, creating designs that appealed to the U.S. market using their traditional techniques. When she enlisted the copper artisans to create the first copper sink prototypes, it became clear that this was an exciting new way to use a wonderful reclaimed metal and to blend ancient techniques with contemporary design.

Naomi was determined that her company not only continue to be socially responsible, but be environmentally responsible as well. As high-quality recycled copper became the raw material for the Native Trails line of sinks, reclaimed wood became the material source for the accompanying line of bath vanities.

Blazing New Trails

15 year later, Naomi and her team continue to find new trails to be forged. To diversify their selection of hand-crafted products, Native Trails now offers their copper products in a hand-dipped brushed nickel finish, and a growing line of bath vanities crafted from various sustainable materials:  reclaimed or FSC certified woods, eco-friendly bamboo, and recycled, hand forged iron.

At Native Trails, Passion is Contagious

Naomi’s passion continues to spread through the company, to employees, designers, showrooms and customers. The results of this shared passion have exceeded all expectations: Native Trails has become one of the leading manufacturers of handcrafted bath and kitchen products in the world and continues to grow their social and environmental initiatives and positive impact along with their product line.