Two birds with one stone – a trip to visit friends and pick up pottery
One of the best parts of Lisa-Marie’s job is meeting with our artisans and craftsmen to discuss their work. Some even let her hand pick what they are going to bring to our stores. Some of our artisans and craftsmen are new to us and we are just beginning our relationship with them. Some of them Lisa-Marie has had a relationship long before Lisa-Marie’s Made in Maine, Inc was even established as a brick and mortar store. The Esposito’s of Unity Pond Pottery are two of Lisa-Marie’s long time friends and supporters.
We can’t keep their mugs on our shelf. People love them! It helps that their prices are so good. You can get a mug and some tea for less than $25 and it’s a perfect gift for that hard-to-find-for person. We were running low on mugs specifically in both of our stores so Lisa-Marie and Andy decided to make a trip to visit their friends Wendy and Espo and to pick out some of their pottery.
What a treat they were in for! Their showroom doubles as a working studio and Espo happened to be throwing pottery while they were visiting. Lisa-Marie and Andy got a peak at the “before” of some of their work. One of the joys we get is to be able to understand how a product is made so that we can describe the process to our customers. Because all of Wendy and Espo’s work is created using techniques such as wheel throwing, slip casting, pressing and handbuilding, no two will ever be exactly alike. Lisa-Marie and Andy got to watch Espo in his element, up to his elbows in pottery with a grin on his face. Then with the help of Wendy, Andy loaded up the van with several boxes of their work for both the Bath and Portland locations.
No matter how much Lisa-Marie and Andy love being in the store promoting our artists to our customers, it’s a fun to get out and spend some time with the artists themselves in their own environment. Wendy and Espo have been with us since we opened our store in 2003 and have joked that Lisa-Marie’s Made in Maine is funding their retirement, one mug at a time.