Our Story

A ceramic pottery studio located in Waco, TX, which has become both a local art icon and home to creatives and aspiring potters.

We create handmade, custom and functional pottery pieces for your business and home, and although we produce a volume of pottery pieces that could require an assembly line production, we protect the beauty of the process, the fluidity of the clay and a handmade touch for each piece of pottery we create.

Many know us for our handmade coffee mugs featuring custom logos for businesses such as The Keeping Company, Brighter Day Press, Pine Cove Summer Camps, and for Chip and Joanna Gaines in their Magnolia Market. We consider ourselves a custom wholesale pottery business and enjoy working with artists, business men and women and individuals to create pieces of pottery that best represent our clients.

Whether you’re looking for a custom dish set or an order of coffee mugs featuring your company’s unique logo and style - the team at Black Oak Pottery can’t wait to get our hands dirty to make your vision a reality.

History

What began as a small garage operation is now an established pottery manufacturer, employing over 20 Waco locals, many of whom are studying artists. Jonathan Martin began throwing pottery in high school, studied Studio Art at Baylor University and after several years of teaching and working for a short time for a start-up in Silicon Valley, decided to pursue pottery full-time.

 

 

Originally, Jonathan was looking for a shape he could put his hands to, perfect, and then create something both beautiful and functional. Thus, the signature Black Oak coffee mug was born. Shortly after creating his first coffee mug, Jonathan was approached by a local coffee shop owner, who asked if he could create a custom logo mug to sell in their coffee shop.

Jonathan soon discovered he enjoyed creating custom logo pottery for local businesses and began throwing mugs for other local companies, including Magnolia Market. Now Black Oak is a custom wholesale pottery company, offering handmade custom logo mugs,signature pottery lines for retail, andcustom pottery for your home.

Something Jonathan enjoys most is,“sitting down with (clients like) Joanna Gaines , from ;Magnolia, or Sara, atGather, to come up with signature lines and custom pottery that match the unique aesthetic of their stores. I like that – it’s kind of who I am,” says Jonathan. “I really enjoy going in and talking with people and hearing the things they like about different pieces of pottery and then creating that for them, like a graphic designer would work with a client.”

Although the volume of pottery pieces being produced each week has increased dramatically, something that makes the studio unique is that each piece of pottery is still handmade. Rather than a production assembly line, Jonathan has created a community of artists looking to perfect their design and craft and work at an inspiring local business with other like-minded individuals.

Now the familiar coffee mug has become a sort of icon for local businesses in Waco and across the USA. Many hands of skilled artists put their hands to each individual piece of pottery from start to finish before the entire process is complete. The commitment to handmade pottery and local community has led Black Oak Pottery to become one of the top pottery manufacturers in Texas.

Let us create the perfect handmade piece of pottery for your business or home.