Damn and here I thought I just had taste.
If you’ve eaten at a fine-dining restaurant in New York Ciy or Washington DC, you’ve likely been served on Homer Laughlin china.
Artisan china is the kind of thing successful, educated, refined people expect their upscale meals to be placed on, but they probably never wonder where it came from or who made it — or whether or not the worker had a “peculiar” accent or more than a high-school education.
It takes unique skills from a variety of unique people to craft such a plate. And the artisans, skilled laborers, engineers, scientists and technicians at Homer Laughlin — our country’s last remaining major pottery plant — live along a curve of the Ohio River in rural West Virginia.
Spend one hour in the mile-long factory, which is sited to take advantage of both the region’s rich clay soil, perfect for making ceramics, and the skills passed on from one generation to another, and you understand intellect and talent do not have to come from a four-year institution.