Earthborn Studios is a small band of artists who are making a dream come true by hard work, creativity, and inspiration. We enjoy a common ground with the chefs for whom we design. Both chef and potter take raw ingredients from the earth to be carefully subjected to the right time and temperature in the ovens, and then placed on the table to be enjoyed. Mixers, baker’s racks, oven mitts, rolling pins, measuring cups, etc., are tools of the potter as well as the chef. As in the high culinary arts, the art of clay is expressive and exacting.
Our chefs and restaurants have been working together with Earthborn Pottery since 1997. They provide us the opportunity to take a very hands-on approach in our working relationship allowing the chefs to come to her studio and help in the creative process, making it come out just as you visualize. Every piece is so unique, enhancing the visual aesthetics of our cuisines and adding a nice conversational piece for the guests.
~Chef Chris Hastings, Idie Hastings Owner, Hot & Hot Fish Club
Working with clay gives us a connection to the earth and a respect for our Creator who made it. Each piece is a labor of love; handmade, heartfelt, and designed with inspiration from nature in all its glory: the greens of pine trees, the blues and violets of the sky, the downy warmth of cotton fields, golden hues of honey, and the deep reds from our Alabama soil. We hope that each piece of Earthborn pottery leaves you with a sense of connectedness with nature and a glimpse of the Divine influence in each of our lives as we express our love and appreciation in each piece.
“We use Earthborn pottery for everything! Each color, shape, and glaze helps our menus transition seamlessly with the rhythms of the seasons.”
~Chef David Bancroft Acre Auburn, Alabama
Tena has spent years developing her own techniques and glazes to meet the high standards of today’s commercial kitchens. Earthborn products have been professionally tested for “GLLE” (glaze leaching), scratch, compression, dishwasher, and thermal shock resistance. Critical attention to firing times, temperature, and clay-glaze relationship make Earthborn products extremely durable. The clay body is completely vitrified so any chips are non-absorbent and the dark clay blends into the natural edge.
I have a huge responsibility to the chefs for whom I design and work. My pottery has to be the best it can be to withstand the daily use in such high-traffic conditions. I am continually honored to be chosen to be the maker of one of the most important elements in a customer’s hardscape environment.”
~Tena Z. Payne, Owner/Designer, Earthborn Studios, Inc.
Earthborn pottery and its process developed over time and yielded a product uniquely situated to custom design. Working one-on-one with the chef, insights to specific functionality can easily be translated into a finished vessel. The collaboration between the two artists creates a personal statement available in no other way.
