Fiesta and So Much More

The Homer Laughlin China Company is more than clay, kilns and craft workers. For Newell, WV, it’s a catalyst for hope, growth and prosperity. For the manufacturing industry, it’s an icon for success. 

By Jennifer Jett Prezkop

In Hancock County, the most northern point of West Virginia, there’s a cluster of factories that run the length of a mile along the banks of the Ohio River. The tiny, manufacturing-made town called Newell is surrounded by mountains on both sides of the river, creating a small industrial valley. Within its confines lies the sprawling complex of The Homer Laughlin China Company (HLC), the last major china manufacturer in the U.S.

The brick façade of the main office building speaks to a time in the distant past when success filled all the space East Liverpool, Ohio—the company’s original headquarters—had to offer, forcing HLC across the river into new territory. Ivy scales the walls, a symbol of tenacity and growth despite the challenges of today’s manufacturing industry. While the archaic factories with their yellow brick walls and high rows of windowpanes tempt visitors with a trip back in time, what lies within plants #4, #5, #6, #7 and #8’s 37 acres of production space is nothing less than spectacular.

HLC is best known for its production of Fiesta dinnerware, but the colorful plates with their iconic concentric rings is just one element of who this West Virginia-based company is. HLC is home to hundreds of artists and craftsmen with an increasingly rare skill trade. A genuine manufacturer committed to remaining American-made, the pottery has special order capabilities to serve a broader base of clients and has built several merchandising partnerships over the years to make its Fiesta line a lifestyle brand that reaches beyond the dinner table. It is one of the community’s largest employers, a solid corporate partner and a community staple whose cult following is a magnet for tourism in the area.

Making of a Modern Marvel

To appreciate the success of HLC, it’s important to understand the china manufacturer’s journey.

Originally known as The Laughlin Bros. Pottery, The Homer Laughlin China Company was built in East Liverpool, Ohio, at the end of the Civil War by its namesake, Homer Laughlin, and his brother, Shakespeare. In the late 1800s, East Liverpool had earned the distinction of china capital of the world and was home to more than 150 potteries. The small Ohio town was a prime location for ware manufacturers because of the natural clay found in the area.

In 1877, Laughlin bought his brother’s shares of the company and changed its name to The Homer Laughlin China Company. In 1897, he retired to California and sold HLC to W.E. Wells and Louis Aaron. Expansion was eminent after the successful foundation Laughlin had laid for the future of the company. In 1899, Plant #2 was built, followed by Plant #3 in 1901.

By 1902, the business needed more room to spread out, but East Liverpool had no additional development space. The owners did the only thing they could: they purchased 67 acres of farmland from the Newell family directly across the river in West Virginia and proceeded with expansion plans. The community of Newell rose up around the facility as some workers moved across the river. In order for the Ohio-based employees to commute to the new location, HLC built a toll bridge across the Ohio River and provided a trolley service. In establishing the infrastructure for the new town, HLC also formed the North American Manufacturing Company, which still handles the water and sewage for Newell today.

In 1907, HLC began operations in the brand-new Plant #4, which at that time was the largest pottery in the world. Plant #4 increased HLC’s production to 300,000 pieces per day. Plant #5 followed in 1914 with Plant #6 in 1923, Plant #7 in 1927 and Plant #8 in 1929. Each new plant broke the previous plant’s record for productivity.

During the Great Depression, HLC’s design director, Frederick Rhead, a second-generation potter from England, introduced the idea of creating colorful dinnerware. The Great Depression was a time when Americans needed a pick-me-up, and Rhead believed vibrant shades of red, blue, green and yellow on the dinner table was the solution. Fiesta dinnerware was added to HLC’s product offerings in 1936 and launched in five colors: simple ivory, cobalt blue, green, yellow and red. The popularity of the pottery was overwhelming, and by the third year of production, more than 10 million pieces per year had been made. HLC produced Fiesta dinnerware from 1936-1972. In 1959, in the midst of the first Fiesta craze, HLC also expanded into more durable, industrial china. The pottery founded its Food Services Division that today produces 15 lines of hotel and restaurant dinnerware and distributes to more than 20 countries including Mexico, Germany, South Korea and Greece.

After 37 years of production, Fiesta was retired in 1972 when the popularity of new colors fell and sales began to slip. An opportunity for the rebirth of the dinnerware line came in 1985 when Bloomingdale’s approached HLC about producing new colors with added improvements. The homeware brand rebounded with strong sales, cementing HLC’s decision to continue the line. In the mid-1990s, HLC began forming licensing partnerships to broaden the accessory offerings for the dinnerware. Today, Fiesta has 15 colors in production, and a new color is added to the palette every year.

The Art of Pottery

Each piece of HLC pottery begins with one of two types of clay. The ivory clay used for Fiesta dinnerware is brought in from the southeastern United States, and the white clay used for the Food Services Division is imported from England, Spain and other countries where the resource is naturally found. Both types of clay arrive at HLC’s facility in a powder form and are combined with water so they can be piped throughout the plants to the production lines. Once the clay reaches its destination, it will either remain in a liquid form, called liquid slip, or it will be dried out, crushed and formed into cylinders called pugs.

The method by which a piece of pottery is made depends on several factors like the final product’s shape and whether it will be hollow. Larger pieces, odd shapes and hollow products like teapots, gravy boats and vases are created in a process called casting. In casting, the liquid slip is poured into a mold, and once it sets up, the excess clay is removed for recycling and the seam is removed with a sponge and water. For flat pieces like plates, the clay pugs are sliced up and used in the molds of computerized machine lines that can make multiple pieces at one time. After the pottery is molded, each piece is run through a tunnel kiln to be dried. All five of HLC’s kilns fire at 2400 degrees and can take anywhere from six to 18 hours to finish, depending on the age of the kiln.

For Fiesta pieces, the ivory clay is transformed into one of the brand’s 15 colors with the use of a glaze. The glaze colors are derived from natural elements that occur around the world like cobalt blue, which can be found in South Africa, and Shamrock, which comes from Japan. The glaze is sprayed onto the pottery, giving the ivory clay a pastel color. When the pieces go through the kiln, the firing process transforms those soft colors into the bright ones found in stores.

Tradition Meets High-Tech

At HLC, plants #4, #5 and #6 are home to the Retail Division, where all things Fiesta are made. In plants #7 and #8, the dinnerware manufacturer produces high-quality china for its Food Services Division. In total, craftsmen mold, glaze, fire and decorate 564,000 pieces of pottery every week to meet customer demands. At the root of each piece is a divergence of old-school manufacturing and high-tech machinery.

While much of the pottery’s processes remain the same as they were almost a century ago, several aspects of production have changed as a result of technology. One major change was the conversion from bottle kilns to tunnel kilns in the 1920s. Although it was a change made long ago, it has had a lasting impact.

“The bottle kilns were very time consuming,” says Katie McIlvain, HLC’s foodservice and general marketing manager and a fifth generation Wells family member. “They were pretty small, and we’d have to load them with the ware, brick them up, fire them to a certain temperature, wait for them to cool and then unbrick the kilns and take out the ware. In the 1920s when tunnel kilns came into use in dinnerware production, it made things so much easier because the pottery would be loaded onto carts and moved through the kilns. We could produce more ware, and it was also a lot less labor intensive than the bottle kilns were.”

Another major change has been automation. “It’s helped us become more efficient,” says McIlvain. “For starters, we can operate with less people. In 1948, our peak year of production, we were employing more than 3,000 people, and today we operate with about 1,000. Any computerization or robotics in the plant have enabled us to be more proficient, and that’s very important in our industry—being able to deliver orders in a timely fashion.”

The addition of 3-D printing has proven beneficial when it comes to delivering samples of specialized products to customers more quickly. “Our art department has always provided email renderings, but sometimes it’s easier for the customer to envision the product if they can actually hold it in their hands,” says McIlvain. “While a ceramic sample of a new shape would take several weeks or even months to create, we can set the 3-D printer up and print a sample overnight to send to a customer.”

Despite the automated production lines, robotic arms and use of 3-D printers, McIlvain says that while walking through the plant, one can still see the processes that are done the same way they were 100 years ago, like putting handles on the coffee mugs. A lot of that work can’t be trusted to computers, which is where HLC’s skilled craftsmen come in.

The Creative Class

On any given day, HLC has about 1,000 artists on staff, doing their part to churn out half a million pieces a week. From hand-painting designs to attaching coffee mug handles and finishing products before they are carted through the kiln, HLC is brimming with creative folks.

Hand lining is one position in particular that requires a lot of skill. “I was recently watching one of our hand liners line a scalloped edge oval platter, and the amount of skill that goes into that is something you really can’t understand unless you see it,” says McIlvain. HLC also hand lines some products in gold, which is very expensive and something that requires a steady hand and great care.

Another skill-oriented position at HLC is finishing cast pieces. “With something like a beverage server, you’d never know it comes out of a mold with seams on it and it’s someone’s job to make it look seamless,” McIlvain explains. “That’s definitely something that involves a special touch.”

Despite the intricacies of the work, job training consists of shadowing and a lot of trial and error. Many of the employees at HLC have been there for 30-40 years and are the third and fourth generations of their families to work at the pottery. Because of the specialized craft work in the plant, once an employee is proficient in a skill, they usually stick with that position for the duration of their career. Between HLC being a family-oriented employer and the pottery being one of only a few remaining employers for craftsmen with these extremely specialized skills, it’s easy to see why careers last so long at HLC.

At the end of the day, it’s the employees that make HLC a dinnerware giant. “A quality work force translates directly to creating a quality product,” McIlvain says of the value of HLC’s employees. “Something we pride ourselves on is the pride our employees have in their day-to-day work, and the quality product is what our customers have come to expect from us.”

Newell’s Community Partner

Something else HLC prides itself on is being a good neighbor. The pottery’s roots predate the town of Newell, making it an important cornerstone for the community, a role the manufacturer embraces.

“We’re one of the largest employers in our area,” says McIlvain. “We’ve been in business for more than 140 years, and it’s very important to us to give back to the community that has supported us for so long. Newell is dependent on us, and we’re dependent on the community in a mutual way. This is where many of our workers live, and we would be nothing without them.”

It’s a priority for the pottery to keep its charitable giving within its own community. Any donations made by HLC are made exclusively within the tri-state area, whether that is donating dishes for an auction, making a monetary contribution or sponsoring an event.

In addition to supporting fundraisers for local causes, HLC also gives the local tourism economy a boost. HLC offers daily factory tours and staffs both an onsite shop and a discount seconds shop that has become a dream destination for collectors and those known as Fiesta Fanatics. By far, HLC’s biggest draw is the semi-annual tent sale, which brings in tourists from all over the U.S.

“Our tent sales definitely help put the Northern Panhandle on the map,” says McIlvain. “When we host the tent events, we have people drive in from all over the country to partake in them, so it’s definitely an influx to the local economy.” The tent sales fill hotels and restaurants for the duration of the events, something from which the whole community benefits.

The Genuine Manufacturer

At HLC, the term genuine manufacturer is used as a synonym for the pottery. While it might sound like a reference to the community support the pottery provides, it’s actually a term coined by management to give customers a better understanding of what the china manufacturer does to stand above the rest. Being a genuine manufacturer means everything is done at the facility in Newell and the company is in control of the process and final product. It’s rare for a manufacturer to be able to say every element of every product is made on site, and HLC embraces the designation.

“Everything is done here,” says McIlvain. “The art department is here. The samples are housed here. The warehouses are here. We own the factories. Everything that happens to a dish before it is delivered to a customer happens here on the property. What we’re running into in the market is competition from companies that are farming out their orders to different factories and manufacturing facilities they don’t own and where they don’t have any control over the processes. Some of their customers might end up with two plates from two different factories that might not match in color. Our customers are never going to have inconsistency in products because our production is not farmed out to different factories overseas.”

HLC is also proud of its history as an American-made manufacturer. “We’re one of the only major manufacturers left in the area and the U.S., and it’s a big source of pride for us to not only be made in America but made in the Ohio Valley where there is such a long history of china production and skilled pottery workers. It’s very important for us to stay in America and stay in this area and provide jobs for the people who have worked in our company for generations.” ν