Photography by Tim Robison + Connie Coady
“We’ve created East Fork to be a welcoming, inviting space that makes you want to linger, have a drink (our wine cabinet is always stocked-full, don’t be shy about asking) and chat with our well-informed team members. ”
East Fork Pottery is nestled at the end of a valley on an old tobacco field, between steep green mountains, thirty minutes northwest of Asheville, North Carolina. Founded in 2010 by Alexander Matisse & Connie Coady, the workshop is now home to potter John Vigeland and an amazing team of potters and sales staff. We make a line of contemporary dinnerware in a gas kiln as well as limited edition, one-of-a-kind sculptural and decorative pieces in a wood-burning kiln.
All of our work by is made by hand, on a potter's wheel, in Madison County, North Carolina. For the past six years, customers have been invited to visit and purchase work directly from our workshop. But as romantic as it is to walk in the kiln and take in the smell of the woodstove and dirt-floors, the pots just aren’t done justice when they’re stacked high on ware-racks in a dark workshop covered in clay dust. Our downtown store is the realization of a longheld dream to show our work in a beautiful space, alongside other beautiful objects, with breathing room and good lighting.
Also, Alex and I both get really excited about well-designed kitchen and home items - and we really feel like there was a hole in Asheville that needed filling. And in the short week we’ve been open, it’s been such an unexpected pleasure to get to know our neighbors, meet passersby, and really start to feel like members of our downtown community. We thought we’d each just be in the shop a day or two a week, but so far we can’t seem to get ourselves out the door.
Aside from the East Fork collection, you’ll find other useful and beautiful objects for your home, including wool blanket, quilts, kitchenware, glassware, candles, tea, apothecary items and more. My favorite objects in the store right now include Donabe clay cookers - beautiful, Japanese, ceramic cookware that can sit right on the stovetop - geometric patterned throw pillows by Asheville’s own Outra Textiles, gorgeous porcelain pipes by Miwak Junior that feel so good in your hand, and the best tinted lip balm I’ve ever used from Marble + Milkweed.
We’re looking forward to hosting Meet the Maker openings, book readings and signings, coffee + tea cuppings and wine tastings, and fundraisers for regional, progressive non-profits.