At its core Maine Kiln Works is a family run business. Dan Weaver is chief maker and jack-of-all-trades, Liz Weaver managed the shipping, inventory, and sales shop, and I (Joanna Weaver) do media and marketing while also training as assistant maker.
The three of us are the heart of the Maine Kiln Works team. Other people participate from time to time, usually as apprentices. I have particularly fond memories of several of these people—Connor McLean, a hardworking apprentice from Northern Ireland who could always get us to laugh, the cheerful and patient Meg, and the energetic Patrick Barter who can still be seen dropping by for a visit or to borrow a piece of machinery before dashing off to deliver mugs to Gracenote Coffee shop in downtown Boston.
Each day at the Kiln Works is different. I’ll get up, have a cup of tea in my favorite tenmoku tankard, take a look at my to-do list and plan the day. The options are almost endless—one day I may be loading a kiln, the next looking after the sales shop, fighting with WooCommerce to get the website to function properly, running clay through the filter press, editing a video, or organizing our vast sink inventory. The variety and the ability to choose what I will work on when I get up in the morning is refreshing.
— Joanna Weaver
