A brush maker’s story
It’s been a special year for Purdy, with 2025 marking 100 years since the company first began hand crafting brushes from its factory in Portland, Oregon. We caught up with Corinne Montoya, Purdy’s Brush Making Supervisor, about what it’s like working for a company with a century of craftsmanship up its sleeve.
Can you tell us a bit about your role?
I’m the supervisor for the brush making department and I’ve been with Purdy for 36 years. It’s my job to oversee the handcrafting process and ensure everything that passes through our department meets our stringent quality standards, as we want to make the best brushes we possibly can.
It’s quite amazing to think that Purdy has been handmaking bushes here in Portland for 100 years, and we’re proud of that long heritage.
What goes into the brush making process?
Quality control is fundamental to the process, and this is built into every single step… From checking that the bristle materials have been mixed correctly, to making sure the ferrule is in perfect condition. We give our brushes a fine, even head and we inspect all elements to make sure there are no scratches, dents or crooked handles, and that the brush head is absolutely perfect.
Anything that doesn’t pass our rigorous inspection gets pulled out of the production line. Finally, we make sure the brushes are completely clean before they get sent for packaging, we don’t want any materials left on the brush that will affect how they apply paint to the wall.
What’s the training process for a Purdy brush maker?
It’s a very detailed process. We want to make sure that every brush maker fully understands our quality guidelines and why we do things the way we do. We have a dedicated trainer that works with new brush makers, and all of their brushes will be thoroughly inspected before being passed through production.
Why do all the brushes have a sticker on them?
The sticker has the name of the brush maker who made that particular brush and it’s a way of showing pride in our workmanship. When you make something by hand, you’re invested in the process, you have your hands and your eyes on the product at every step of the journey. We want the brushes to be the best they can be, and we literally put our name to it.
It makes you feel good being able to walk into a store, see brushes with your name on and feel proud that you made them. We want the painters to know that we care about what we’re making and how it helps them. It’s a little symbol of the journey the brush has taken from our hands to theirs. And if they clean it and take care of it, that brush will last them a lifetime.
