Pastime becomes profession Waynesburg woman making an impact with handmade mugs
Observer-Reporter
Jennifer Adamson’s PA Mug Co. was one of only a few businesses in Waynesburg that had a successful holiday season.
Jennifer Adamson forms a mug from clay in the PA Mug Co. studio in Washington. The business started in the Wash Arts building then moved next door.
Studio assistant Alex Riedel, left, and owner Jennifer Adamson work together at PA Mug Co. on handcrafting mugs.
Jennifer Adamson was a flight attendant when four planes and, essentially, the world crashed 13 years ago.
She was a victim of airline cutbacks after 9/11, a nightmare begetting another nightmare. Starting anew, Adamson enrolled in pottery classes at California University of Pennsylvania, intending to pursue a career in what had been a preferred pastime.
Years later, that career appears to be taking off. This longtime Waynesburg resident owns Adamson Pottery, whose offshoot business, PA Mug Co., is but a year old and growing.
PA Mugs’ mugs are being displayed, and sold, in nine venues from Harrisburg to Pennsylvania’s western border. And orders keep coming into her downtown Washington studio.
“We make 250 mugs a week,” she said. “We are pleased with sales at the shops.”
They are not stereotypical gift shop mugs, depicting local scenes, but distinctive drinking vessels: wide base, tapered top, grooves – “throw lines” – for a seemingly easier grip.
“When you hold it, your fingers kind of rest in there,” Adamson said. “It also sits nicely on a table.”
Her mugs come in three shapes, nine finishes and five colors, and are crafted, stored and marketed in the 1,000-square foot garage that serves as her studio, which she subleases from Wash Arts. It is adjacent to the arts and cultural center on South Avenue, across from Ross Mould Inc.
The company’s objective, Adamson said, is modest and simple: “We try to make an affordable product that’s homemade.”
She has one contracted employee, Alex Riedel, and is assisted by student interns from California University of Pennsylvania, who receive academic credit.
Riedel, of Canonsburg, is a multi-tasker who also handles sales. His versatility likewise is evident at Wash Arts, where he teaches guitar and hosts the singer-songwriter program.
They met at Wash Arts, where she leads separate pottery classes for children and adults. Adamson hired Riedel despite a relative lack of pottery expertise.
“My only experience at this was in high school,” he said. “I’m a musician by trade.”
Their mugs are gaining a local foothold. They are being sold at 19 Coffee Co. and Chicco Baccello in Washington; SpringHouse Country Market and Restaurant in North Strabane Township; Trax Farms in Union Township; and McCracken Pharmacy in Waynesburg.
Orbis Caffe in Mt. Lebanon, Cannon Coffee in Brookline and Espresso a Mano in Lawrenceville also carry them, along with the farthest-flung shop: Perfectly Pennsylvania at Harrisburg International Airport.
Adamson said 19 Coffee and its owner, David DiOrio, have provided major boosts for her still-fledgling enterprise.
“Our biggest project now is partnering with 19 Coffee,” she said. referring to the micro coffee roaster a mile away on Chartiers Street. “David has helped us find some of the retail locations we’re in.”
She appreciates local support, believes in local support, and reciprocates in kind. Adamson purchases all of her clay from a Carnegie firm, Standard Ceramic Supply Co.
Mugs are her business, but not her only business. Through Adamson Pottery, she and Riedel make pots and bowls. They also do personalized wedding gifts, an offshoot she expects to ramp up following the holiday season.
“We also do a fair amount of business with customized beer steins,” Riedel said. “It can be crazy stuff, but a lot of fun. I did Godzilla waterskiing on a stein.”
Although she is gratified by the progression of her mug business, Adamson has no grandiose expansion plans. “I’m not sure we want to go bigger.”
But it is, indeed, much bigger than it was a year ago.
For more information, go to pamugco.com.