The Kalo Shop, one of the earliest Chicago endeavors dedicated to the principles of the Arts and Crafts Movement, was founded in 1900 by four female graduates of the Art Institute of Chicago. Shortly thereafter, Clara Barck Welles (1868–1965), one of the founders, took sole ownership. Enlightened employment practices were responsible for her addition of many highly trained metalsmiths who were immigrants from Scandinavian countries. Peter Lauritz Berg (b. Norway, 1885–1959), not only designed this pitcher but is also credited with its difficult construction. The applied, rather than engraved, initials, those of the bride, to whom the pitcher was a gift, and its hammered surface became signatures not just of Kalo, but of Chicago, adopted as they were by many other local workshops. This is not surprising, as The Kalo Shop was the progenitor of much Chicago Arts and Crafts silver. Over its lifetime, numerous silversmiths who received their start at Kalo left to establish their own firms or to join other firms in Chicago.