By STEPHANIE STROM
Published: June 11, 2012
[snip]
Just two pottery makers remain, and one, the American Mug and Stein Company, was on the verge of closing last fall. Then Ulrich Honighausen called. Mr. Honighausen, the owner of a tableware company, Hausenware, in Sonoma County, Calif., which supplies retailers like Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn and Fred Meyer with ceramics and glassware from producers all over the world, had a plan to revitalize American Mug and create jobs in an industry that had all but died. What if American Mug were to make mugs for Starbucks?
“I almost didn’t take his call because I figured it was a crank call or something,” said Clyde M. McClellan, owner of American Mug.
[snip]
He found American Mug last fall after having heard an interview with Mr. Schultz, in which the Starbucks chief, disgusted with the political standoff in Washington over raising the debt ceiling, called on business leaders to stop making donations to politicians and start doing something themselves to address the country’s woes.
[snip]
Now, not only is American Mug on its second order for Starbucks, but Mr. McClellan has gone into business with Mr. Honighausen and one of his longtime associates, Kazuharu Kato, who manufactures pottery in Japan and China. They bought a pottery factory and have plans to hire 10 to 15 people once they get it up and running sometime later this year. Called the Red Barn, it will use state-of-the-art machinery like that used in Mr. Kato’s factories in Japan and China, enabling it to turn out mugs and eventually other products by the thousands each day....
