It’s Been Good to Gnome You: Laughin’Gnome Pottery Announces a Change of Ownership
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Darby Huffman and Francie Loveall of Laughin’Gnome Pottery. Photo curtesy of Laughin’Gnome Pottery [/caption]
By Angela Downs
At 71 years old, Darby Huffman of Laughin’Gnome Pottery is retiring after 21 years of throwing, decorating, and inventing mugs and plates. Since 2004, with the start of Daily Bird Pottery, Huffman has been an artist and small business owner in the community, working to make a living in an over-saturated market. The company sells its inventory at 10-15% lower prices for decorated mugs than what is on the market and aims to sell to customers who have acclimatized to a culture with a high standard of living.
His advice? “If you’re an artist, find your niche and exploit it!”
All of Huffman’s employees have come to him without stable housing, and he’s had a goal to offer stability in a difficult place to live. Huffman has trained siblings Joey and Arthur Cannon for the last five years and is now handing the business over to them.
You may recognize Huffman as the gnome character he dresses as at markets, which he created to help heal from his departure with the Daily Bird Pottery and served as a way to come into his own. It also became the selling entertainment at markets. He says, “Being able to sell is crucial, and I hope I imbibed the fun and play in the two coming up.”
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Huffman displays his wares, and his excellent sense of humor, at the Port Townsend Farmer’s Market. Photo curtesy of Laughin’Gnome Pottery [/caption]
Huffman says it's his great joy to make arrangements for them to take over the business in a way the siblings can afford. The Cannons will inherit kilns, five wheels (he’s keeping one of each for himself), $6,000 of inventory, a renter’s deposit and helping pay rent for the first few months, and the skills to carry it all. The business’s new name will be Mud Wood Gnomes, and the Cannon siblings will still use gnome stamps on their wares. They will also pay a royalty to Huffman for the fidget therapy bead mugs.
Huffman is excited about the change in generations, saying, “It’s sad to see the way the older generations hold on without passing it to the next.”
He is motivated by witnessing the way it’s too late for many around him to have fun with the health they have left.
After 1,250 markets, moving 3-4 hundred pounds of pottery each time, and many, many mugs mailed, he and his partner, Francie Loveall, will be starting a “light duty” company selling Swarovski crystal pendants they call “sparklies” and cruising Vancouver Island to their heart’s content.
“We have not, in this country, addressed the last phases of life. You are a valuable person; think about what you have to offer now and what you will have to offer at a slower pace. You have to ask what makes you happy. I love pottery, but I don’t have to do it to be happy. I’d rather share. We are all a part of this web of small business in this community.” Huffman said.
He will keep his website domain for administrative purposes, but you can find the new owners at https://www.mudwoodcottage.com/.
Their main retailer will remain the Crusty Crumb Bakery, the warehouse will be open Tuesdays & Thursdays, and they will be at the Farmers Markets.
Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to the Cannons as brothers instead of siblings.
