Lead-free, glazed white porcelain Microwave & dishwasher safe Handmade by a person in NC, USA Are your products durable? Our work is used daily in over 200 restaurants around the world. Fast-paced restaurants put our plates through rigors that they’ll never experience in your home. You can use our plates just like you’re accustomed to and when taken care of and stored properly, our wares will last a lifetime (or a few!). Do your plates show cutlery marks? How do I clean cutlery marks off the plates? Any glaze can show cutlery marking over time. Some types of flatware mark more than others, and some of our glazes will show these marks more than others- Matte White, Buttermilk Pink, Celadon, Coquina, and Terra. Any marking is only temporary, and do not worry, it is not harming the glaze. To remove these marks, we recommend scrubbing with a gentle abrasive cleaner such as Bar Keeper’s Friend or Pink Stuff. Is your dinnerware dishwasher & microwave safe? Yes, our plates are designed for the rigors of restaurant kitchens and will be safe in your dishwasher & microwave. For cleaning we recommend using detergents that are gentle and environmentally friendly. Does your pottery contain any harmful ingredients? All of our products are 100% lead free and meet all FDA criteria for tableware. We intentionally fire our porcelain to the same temperatures as fine industrial porcelain, and follow strict guidelines for selecting colorants and glazes with the intention of creating a safe, ethically sourced product that you can proudly and joyfully use. ---- HAAND BRAND: Thoughtful storytellers bridging the past and future with expert craftsmanship. Haand was started in 2012 by Mark Warren and Chris Pence, friends who met in high school in Jacksonville, Florida, circa 1999. Always an artist and tinkerer, Mark attended the Penland School of Crafts on a two-year fellowship after college. There, he was exposed to a variety of media and learned from the excellent teachers, mentors, and highly skilled craftspeople at Penland and in the surrounding community of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He was introduced to ceramics and slip casting while in a class taught by Tom Spleth. Chris, who had been a potter since high school, went on to study business and accounting in college and graduate school, eventually working for a large corporate accounting firm but continued to pursue his love of pottery. In 2012, as Chris decided to leave corporate accounting and Mark completed his Penland Fellowship, the time felt right to take the opportunity to work together, and Haand was born. The first year, the business was run out of a decrepit farmhouse with no potable water and mercury electricity. Mark and Chris hustled at gift shows and craft fairs, bidding for contracts to manufacture niche products. They fought for every sale to keep their heads above water. These met challenges ultimately gave them an income to move to a small warehouse in Eli Whitney, NC. Sales improved every year and eventually they were able to hire employees. Haand would not be where it is today without the hard work and sacrifice of those early and current employees. Haand now employs a staff of 20 and operates out of a 13,000 square foot former hosiery mill in downtown Burlington, NC. Behind the Name Haand: When we started Haand, we knew that it was going to be an unusual company, slightly off-kilter because we believed in making things by hand in the 21st century. Simultaneously strange and familiar, it is a knowable, recognizable, and comfortable word. Haand itself is an archaic word for hand, dating back many centuries to Norway. A word from the past, pronounced "hand".
