The East Fork Journal The Journal

Two people smiling and standing outside a craftsman home.

The Key to Ending Homelessness

An introduction to our Q2 Community Partner, Homeward Bound

A black and white photo of Alex Matisse kneeling in front of large ceramic pieces in a wood kiln

Why Is It Called East Fork?

Alex Matisse, East Fork’s founder, on how the company got its name and why it represents a “little private victory” for him.

Various sizes of ceramic plates and tiny bowls in a rainbow of earthy colors are artfully laid out together against a white background.

Color Theory: Core Colors

Our Head of Design, Nicole Lissenden, shares the details of how we built our core color palette.

A person wearing a black sweatshirt is holding a ceramic terracotta mug with 2 hands.

How We Make The Mug

Want to know everything there is to know about how we make The Mug? It’s your lucky day. Get the behind-the-scenes on how we make our iconic ceramic mug.

A ceramic pottery factory with large kiln carts filled with pots, assembly lines, and two people working in the center.

Update on How Our Pots Get Made

East Fork’s manufacturing floor stands on the precipice of a big change. We’re preparing to move to a new clay body and glaze recipe that’s been three years in the making.

Clay Buddies: Virginia Knight

If you have ever had a comment, a question or, yes, a concern about East Fork, there’s a good chance you encountered Virginia Knight, who probably left you feeling like you just made a new friend. Here, Virginia talks comfort, favorite places, writing, fashion and much more, and shares five objects she cherishes.
Clay Buddies: Emily Bukoski

Here at East Fork, Emily Bukoski is the executive assistant to Connie Matisse, our CEO. She knows the name, purpose and next step of every moving part at this company, literal and figurative. Here, she talks business and pleasure and names five objects that are dear to her.
East Fork’s Compensation Philosophy

In the face of our country’s ever-widening wealth gap we are intentionally structuring our payroll to embody our values.
East Fork Recaps

We share highlights from our new product offerings, Internet ramblings, social media adventures, and everything else we got cooking (including actual cooking) in the last month.
Shop Updates

Pre-order for Black Mountain and Rococo closes January 31st! Don't miss your chance to add these conversation-starting pieces to your...
The Scoop on Coupes

Learn about the engineering, guesswork, lasers, 3D printing and testing (so much testing) going down at East Fork HQ, all to bring you a form that solves your not-a-bowl-not-a-plate problem.
$20 an Hour Minimum Wage at East Fork

This week we realized a years-long dream of raising our company-wide minimum wage to $20 an hour.
Chapter 2

This is the first page of our next chapter.
Clay Buddies: Lindsey Zinno

Lindsey Zinno is East Fork’s e-commerce manager. The way she writes about her outside-of-work passions will get you fired up about your own.
The Dish: Episode #3

Watch the third episode of The Dish, a quarterly conversation with East Fork’s Founders, CEO Alex Matisse, CMO Connie Matisse, and CFO John Vigeland. They devote this hour to answering the audience's questions about, well, everything.
Clay Buddies: Connie Matisse

Connie Matisse: East Fork co-founder, chief marketing officer, determiner of future glaze colors and never the subject of a Clay Buddies post? Let’s fix that.
"The Masks from Talea"

A feel-good story about taking care of one another, old friends, and masks that East Fork employees really, really love.
Clay Buddies: Karla Valdez

Karla makes dies and plaster molds that form the pots we make at the factory. She spoke with values manager Manny Ayala about life in the mold shop and what she likes to do when she’s off duty.
Tong Marks

How did those mysterious marks find themselves on the inside of our larger bowls? We explain here.
The Dish: Episode #2

Watch our second episode of The Dish, an inaugural talk of what will become an ongoing quarterly update from East Fork’s Founders on what it takes to run a manufacturing business with integrity.
Clay Buddies: Cherry

Cherry Iocovozzi wears many hats at East Fork and all of them are funky. They are our food systems manager.
Catching Up with Cade Hollomon-Cook

Cade is our Small Batch Studio Manager and makes limited-release, wheel-thrown, extra special pots. On the team since 2014, Cade is a bonafide East Fork historian and a super-duper nice person who shares what’s been happening in the studio and what’s on the horizon for hand-thrown limited releases.
Stamps on Pottery

Ever flip over your pot to find a teeny, tiny piece of cutlery stamped on the bottom? What’s that all about? We're here to clear that up.
Clay Buddies: Donna Casellas-Banks

Donna Casellas-Banks’s title here at East Fork is sales associate but it should be professional listener. She can tell when she’s talking to a plate person or a bowl person and she knows who should (and shouldn’t) dive headlong into a seasonal glaze.
Caring for Pottery

Here are some easy tips for caring for brass and clay pieces from East Fork.