When most of us think about getting behind the wheel, it's to drive a car.
But for the workers at Sunset Hill Stoneware, "the wheel," takes on a different meaning.
They're crafting thousands of handmade mugs each week at their production facility in Fox Crossing.
Tom Dunsirn started the business in 1998 with just two employees.
"I started it with a friend. He was more the artist end and I was more the business end," he explained.
Tom now works with his father and 53 additional employees.
" [The studio] is very state of the art that way so we're taking an old world art and sort of transforming it into a modern with technology and efficiency. With it being so labor intensive, you have to come up with ways to make it faster and better," said Tom.
Sunset Hill tries to create about 10,000 mugs each week, working through 50,000 pounds of clay a month.
Tom says he never knows who is going to want a mug from Sunset Hill.
"Right now we're doing a really big one for Pink Floyd, Roger Waters. The two are coming up this summer so we're producing a big line of mugs for them. To name a few throughout the country, Maid of the Mist, Yellowstone, National Park, National Rifle Association, lots of local marathons lots of coffee shops, business-- Oshkosh Truck just celebrated their 100th anniversary so we've done a lot of mugs for them," Tom explains.
Roy Pawlowski started in Sunset Hill's shipping department five years ago. Now he works as a potter.
"A lot of local businesses buy our stuff so to be able to walk into a coffee shop or restaurant or something and see something that you made is pretty cool, and actually had a part in making by hand is awesome," he explains.
Tom says the future for Sunset Hill looks bright.
"We just keep trying to be more efficient, coming up with ways we can be better with what we have right now. In the next 5 years, we may double our growth and continue to keep going if the demand is there," he says. I'm proud of my team, how we manufacture the product here and keep this facility in tip-top shape, clean. How the comfort for the employees is on a daily basis. So I can walk in and know everyone is being taken care of here and are working in one of the best production areas in the country as far as pottery studios go."
If you'd like more information on Sunset Hill Stoneware, click here.
