 While
working as a model-maker at Haeger Potteries in the mid seventies,
Bob O'Niel of O'Niel Design, Ltd. asked me to work with him
designing a variety of items for Nelson McCoy Pottery of Ohio.
Over the next few years, we created a number of successful
items and collections for Nelson McCoy.
Working with Bob O'Niel, a true mentor, gave me the confidence
to pursue my own design / manufacturing career. In
1982, I began my pottery business in my garage in Dundee, Illinois.
It was established when the buyer at Crate & Barrel
ordered 288 of my Terra Cotta
Candle Lamps. Over the next
eight months we sold over 7,000 candle lamps.
 With
the help of two home-workers, we met the demand and in early
1983 I moved the pottery from my garage to factory space
in Elgin, Illinois. Over
the next twenty years, with the invaluable help of many wonderful
employees, I designed and produced a variety of lines beginning
with my first collection: Terra
Cotta. The items were for use
as cookware and serveware and, over 20 years, the
line evolved into the 22 pieces you
see here.
 In
the late 1980's I became increasingly fascinated with the
pottery of the Arts & Crafts Movement of a hundred
years earlier. After researching the Movement, I designed
a collection of seven Vases each of which
pays tribute to one of the seven Art Potteries I believe
to be the most important of the era. The creation of this
special line required the development of a palette of matte
glazes true to the colors of the Movement. In addition,
I wrote a short history (included with each vase) of the
Movement and the seven potteries. The line was introduced
in 1991.
 I
had, for many years, admired good Asian design. In 1992,
while taking a class in Raku (a technique and style of pottery
developed in Japan hundreds of years ago), I learned of the
two Zen aesthetics of Wabi and Sabi. The two aesthetics defined
for me a beauty that I had always responded to but had never
before been able to put into words. I knew that at some point
in time I would incorporate the theme of the two aesthetics
into a collection of pottery. That collection came together
in 1996 with the design and introduction of my Wabi-Sabi
stoneware.
 The last collection I produced (introduced in 1999) was Shibui.
Shibui is an aesthetic that describes things that are balanced,
understated, not flashy or flamboyant, and yet not somber or
dull. The collection consisted of a variety of items, both
functional and decorative, in a satin matte black glaze. The
glaze accentuated what I have always worked to achieve in my
designs: reducing each piece to its essence (the cleanest lines,
the simplest form, in balance with its function).
By the year 2000, it became increasingly clear that I could
no longer compete with off-shore imports, and at the end of
2001, I closed my production facility in Elgin, Illinois and
began designing for B.I.A. Cordon Bleu.
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