If I had to trace my ‘tabletop’ beginnings to one event, it would probably
be the day I sold mushrooms to Chris Hastings of Hot & Hot Fish Club. Odd
as it sounds, it was the shiitakes that brought us together.
I am a potter, and that’s what I told Chef Chris while I waited on him to
write the check. Mushroom business completed, he took me to the ‘front of
the house’ and showed me how he was currently serving his amazing cuisine.
With no limitations but my imagination and his strict size constraints, we
began our collaboration to design a line of dinnerware that would be
serviceable, beautiful, and durable.
Over the next few years, we tweaked the characteristics of the new
tableware. I experimented with different clays and glazes to determine the
most serviceable of both and played with different shapes and sizes.
Between Chris’s vision and my own, Earthborn pottery took on a new
dimension—and a new direction.
Until this point, I had been producing vessels less functional and more
ornamental. I had always pursued my craft in leftover time slots, clay
falling behind my family time, work, and any other recreational activities
we engaged in. Nights and weekends were my time to work in the clay,
showing at the local craft fairs and a few galleries. I had always wanted
to make a living with my pottery, but I knew that these limited outlets
could never support me. The realization that dinnerware could be artistic
as well as practical set me off to find more chefs who might like my
product as much as Chris did.
Knowing nothing about the food service industry, but reasoning that chefs
must have professional associations, the internet led me to the American
Culinary Society’s annual convention and trade show. I loaded up my
trailer, asked a couple of girlfriends to go with me, and set out to
Washington DC. I had no idea what was in front of me… no concept of the
bigness of the food and hospitality industry. I was the only potter to have
ever attended one of these events. The chefs loved it… if I had only known
what was before me…
This successful show led to the next, which was NAFEM, (National
Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers) which I could not afford to
even exhibit. So, my girlfriends and I took our carry-ons filled with
serving pieces and colorful business cards to loan to any chef who was
demonstrating any product, from knives to meats to stoves—anyone who was
showing food we seized the opportunity to place my pottery in the public
eye. The convention hall was peppered with Earthborn product on
loan—gaining a level of exposure I couldn’t have paid for. It was here that
a specialty rep, found me and asked the question ‘This is great and all,
but can you make 5000?” Thinking it was a hypothetical question, I replied,
somewhat flippantly, ‘I’ll find a way’. With that assurance, he took my
work and won a contract with the Bellagio Resort & Casino to create their
new banquet line. Before I had completed that project, they commissioned me
to create the tabletop for Sensi, which was then under construction.
I can’t begin to convey my feelings… it was simultaneously a ‘WOW’ and an
‘oh &%!+!’ moment—but how could I say no?
I flew to Las Vegas and met with Chef Martin Heierling who is the executive
chef at Bellagio. At the time, Sensi was under construction and I got to
walk thru with a hardhat and view the actual building of the restaurant. We
determined sizes, uses, and the colors he wanted. At home, I got busy and
custom designed glazes to match and blend with other items to be used on
his tabletop. We continue to this day creating new pieces for him and his
venues.
I won’t bore you with all the ins and outs of converting a studio line of
work to a production line… it had extreme difficulties and hurdles to jump,
time constraints and deadlines, kiln failures, glaze failures, just a
multitude of challenges associated with the conversion of hand-made work to
a more production-oriented approach… but we did it. It was a scary scary
thing…. The pressure was huge. I had gone out on a limb and said I could do
this… and now I had to perform. We met our deadlines and the restaurant
opened with Earthborn pottery on the table.
So, I continue to show at trade shows where my target market might be… I’ve
met some wonderful people along the way. Chefs happen to be artists too,
and they like the distinction my pottery gives their work. It doesn’t
compete with the food, but frames it, so to speak, as the work of art that
it is. The food needs the plate, the plate needs the food.
These type shows don’t always produce orders, but they do plant seeds. I
never know when one of them will sprout in a phone call, or better yet, a
purchase order. The Bellagio order was the springboard I needed, and their
continued use of my product has opened a lot of eyes to the functionality
and durability of my pottery. There were a lot of hoops to be jumped
through to become a MGM vendor, but it has all paid off. (You wouldn’t
believe their compliance manual!)
Some of the other restaurants where my work is used are:
Hot & Hot Fish Club, Chef Chris Hastings, Birmingham The First!! Marriott
Birmingham The Redmont Hotel, Birmingham Vintage Year, Montgomery Kenny’s
Underground Kitchen, Jacksonville FL Rumi’s Kitchen, Washington DC, Atlanta
The Lab, UAB Hilton Side by Side Embassy Suites, Tuscaloosa The American
Club, Hong Kong The Manship Wood-fired Grill, Jackson MS Springhouse, Lake
Martin Alabama Bellinni’s Birmingham Five Star Preserve, Kimberly AL The
Valley Hotel, A Curio by Hilton Lamarina, West Palm Beach Cucina, West Palm
Beach Duck & Waffle, London Well Read, Auburn AL Sugarcane, Amsterdam,
London, & Hong Kong Copperfield Inn in North Creek, New York Isla’s Kitchen
in Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas Jia at The Beau Rivage Sushi Samba
Las Vegas, New York, London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong The Lodge at Torrey
Pines, La Jolla, CA Johnson & Wales University, Providence, RI Madison
House, Bozeman, Montana The Ridges at Rancho Santa Fe, Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Table 2, Chattanooga TN And many others as well as private clubs and
resorts.
All or most of these were contacts I made attending the food service
industry trade shows. The cost of showing there is astronomical, and I can
only hope my dollars hold out until the orders come in… but they always
seem to.
When I first started working with Chris Hastings, The Cook Store in
Mountain Brook contacted me and we’ve had a wonderful relationship ever
since. Wesley Lassen, owner, is by far my “Top Retailer”, taking every
advantage to advertise and promote my work. She’s been instrumental in my
success. While restaurant business is good, it is random and
unpredictable—especially in these trying times. The retail stores
supplement the restaurant business, because people eat on the plates then
want to know where they can purchase some of their own. It’s very
flattering!
An average day in the studio is some and some and some. There’s not an
average day, really… emails, faxes, and voice mail for orders to place in
production, look over the previous day’s work, check the kilns, and some
days teach class. The phone rings, I have to pay bills, follow up on
orders, people checking on orders, throwing pots, making proto types, play
with the babies (our son and his wife work with us and bring their
children) mixing glazes, answering the phones… answering the
phones….answering the phones….
The best thing about my job is doing what I love to do… this is what I’d be
doing if no one paid me to do it. I absolutely love making pots. The magic
is always there, the transformation in the kilns is amazing, I’m always
learning something. It’s a great blend of art and science. Then throw in
the business side and my brain is in overdrive….which is where it stays
most of the time.
When the business started growing I was fortunate enough to buy the old
24.000sq ft Myraflex watch factory in 2006 in my community of Leeds
Alabama. The watch manufacturing has long since been shipped overseas,
leaving a fabulous space to create all our work and host our play. The
building has allowed the past growth, and has room for years of expansion
as well as a classroom, where at present, we offer 8 weekly classes, with
open studio available for students to practice and visit.
In addition to the privilege of being chosen by so many professional chefs,
I’m honored to have my pottery in service at The James Beard House in New
York City.
This has truly been a remarkable and unexpected ride. And I’m not done yet.
You can’t make this stuff up. Step out and manifest your goals!
I am a potter, and that’s what I told Chef Chris while I waited on him to
write the check. Mushroom business completed, he took me to the ‘front of
the house’ and showed me how he was currently serving his amazing cuisine.
With no limitations but my imagination and his strict size constraints, we
began our collaboration to design a line of dinnerware that would be
serviceable, beautiful, and durable.
Over the next few years, we tweaked the characteristics of the new
tableware. I experimented with different clays and glazes to determine the
most serviceable of both and played with different shapes and sizes.
Between Chris’s vision and my own, Earthborn pottery took on a new
dimension—and a new direction.
Until this point, I had been producing vessels less functional and more
ornamental. I had always pursued my craft in leftover time slots, clay
falling behind my family time, work, and any other recreational activities
we engaged in. Nights and weekends were my time to work in the clay,
showing at the local craft fairs and a few galleries. I had always wanted
to make a living with my pottery, but I knew that these limited outlets
could never support me. The realization that dinnerware could be artistic
as well as practical set me off to find more chefs who might like my
product as much as Chris did.
Knowing nothing about the food service industry, but reasoning that chefs
must have professional associations, the internet led me to the American
Culinary Society’s annual convention and trade show. I loaded up my
trailer, asked a couple of girlfriends to go with me, and set out to
Washington DC. I had no idea what was in front of me… no concept of the
bigness of the food and hospitality industry. I was the only potter to have
ever attended one of these events. The chefs loved it… if I had only known
what was before me…
This successful show led to the next, which was NAFEM, (National
Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers) which I could not afford to
even exhibit. So, my girlfriends and I took our carry-ons filled with
serving pieces and colorful business cards to loan to any chef who was
demonstrating any product, from knives to meats to stoves—anyone who was
showing food we seized the opportunity to place my pottery in the public
eye. The convention hall was peppered with Earthborn product on
loan—gaining a level of exposure I couldn’t have paid for. It was here that
a specialty rep, found me and asked the question ‘This is great and all,
but can you make 5000?” Thinking it was a hypothetical question, I replied,
somewhat flippantly, ‘I’ll find a way’. With that assurance, he took my
work and won a contract with the Bellagio Resort & Casino to create their
new banquet line. Before I had completed that project, they commissioned me
to create the tabletop for Sensi, which was then under construction.
I can’t begin to convey my feelings… it was simultaneously a ‘WOW’ and an
‘oh &%!+!’ moment—but how could I say no?
I flew to Las Vegas and met with Chef Martin Heierling who is the executive
chef at Bellagio. At the time, Sensi was under construction and I got to
walk thru with a hardhat and view the actual building of the restaurant. We
determined sizes, uses, and the colors he wanted. At home, I got busy and
custom designed glazes to match and blend with other items to be used on
his tabletop. We continue to this day creating new pieces for him and his
venues.
I won’t bore you with all the ins and outs of converting a studio line of
work to a production line… it had extreme difficulties and hurdles to jump,
time constraints and deadlines, kiln failures, glaze failures, just a
multitude of challenges associated with the conversion of hand-made work to
a more production-oriented approach… but we did it. It was a scary scary
thing…. The pressure was huge. I had gone out on a limb and said I could do
this… and now I had to perform. We met our deadlines and the restaurant
opened with Earthborn pottery on the table.
So, I continue to show at trade shows where my target market might be… I’ve
met some wonderful people along the way. Chefs happen to be artists too,
and they like the distinction my pottery gives their work. It doesn’t
compete with the food, but frames it, so to speak, as the work of art that
it is. The food needs the plate, the plate needs the food.
These type shows don’t always produce orders, but they do plant seeds. I
never know when one of them will sprout in a phone call, or better yet, a
purchase order. The Bellagio order was the springboard I needed, and their
continued use of my product has opened a lot of eyes to the functionality
and durability of my pottery. There were a lot of hoops to be jumped
through to become a MGM vendor, but it has all paid off. (You wouldn’t
believe their compliance manual!)
Some of the other restaurants where my work is used are:
Hot & Hot Fish Club, Chef Chris Hastings, Birmingham The First!! Marriott
Birmingham The Redmont Hotel, Birmingham Vintage Year, Montgomery Kenny’s
Underground Kitchen, Jacksonville FL Rumi’s Kitchen, Washington DC, Atlanta
The Lab, UAB Hilton Side by Side Embassy Suites, Tuscaloosa The American
Club, Hong Kong The Manship Wood-fired Grill, Jackson MS Springhouse, Lake
Martin Alabama Bellinni’s Birmingham Five Star Preserve, Kimberly AL The
Valley Hotel, A Curio by Hilton Lamarina, West Palm Beach Cucina, West Palm
Beach Duck & Waffle, London Well Read, Auburn AL Sugarcane, Amsterdam,
London, & Hong Kong Copperfield Inn in North Creek, New York Isla’s Kitchen
in Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas Jia at The Beau Rivage Sushi Samba
Las Vegas, New York, London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong The Lodge at Torrey
Pines, La Jolla, CA Johnson & Wales University, Providence, RI Madison
House, Bozeman, Montana The Ridges at Rancho Santa Fe, Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Table 2, Chattanooga TN And many others as well as private clubs and
resorts.
All or most of these were contacts I made attending the food service
industry trade shows. The cost of showing there is astronomical, and I can
only hope my dollars hold out until the orders come in… but they always
seem to.
When I first started working with Chris Hastings, The Cook Store in
Mountain Brook contacted me and we’ve had a wonderful relationship ever
since. Wesley Lassen, owner, is by far my “Top Retailer”, taking every
advantage to advertise and promote my work. She’s been instrumental in my
success. While restaurant business is good, it is random and
unpredictable—especially in these trying times. The retail stores
supplement the restaurant business, because people eat on the plates then
want to know where they can purchase some of their own. It’s very
flattering!
An average day in the studio is some and some and some. There’s not an
average day, really… emails, faxes, and voice mail for orders to place in
production, look over the previous day’s work, check the kilns, and some
days teach class. The phone rings, I have to pay bills, follow up on
orders, people checking on orders, throwing pots, making proto types, play
with the babies (our son and his wife work with us and bring their
children) mixing glazes, answering the phones… answering the
phones….answering the phones….
The best thing about my job is doing what I love to do… this is what I’d be
doing if no one paid me to do it. I absolutely love making pots. The magic
is always there, the transformation in the kilns is amazing, I’m always
learning something. It’s a great blend of art and science. Then throw in
the business side and my brain is in overdrive….which is where it stays
most of the time.
When the business started growing I was fortunate enough to buy the old
24.000sq ft Myraflex watch factory in 2006 in my community of Leeds
Alabama. The watch manufacturing has long since been shipped overseas,
leaving a fabulous space to create all our work and host our play. The
building has allowed the past growth, and has room for years of expansion
as well as a classroom, where at present, we offer 8 weekly classes, with
open studio available for students to practice and visit.
In addition to the privilege of being chosen by so many professional chefs,
I’m honored to have my pottery in service at The James Beard House in New
York City.
This has truly been a remarkable and unexpected ride. And I’m not done yet.
You can’t make this stuff up. Step out and manifest your goals!
About Earthborn Studios: www.earthbornpottery.net · Equipment & Packaging
Contact: Tena Payne
Why It Matters
Industry operators should watch for follow-on developments as this story develops.
For more insights and trends in the food and beverage sector, check out more articles in The Food & Beverage Magazine family of publications.
Written by FBM Publications Editors
