Success molded on family ties
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Jeff Lee reached inside his still-hot kiln and picked out the broken pieces of a lid for a hand-made coffee cup.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
The 22,000-degree heat of the kiln can sometimes cause Lee's hand-made, Hawaiian-print pottery to explode. But even though the lid was part of a $25 cup set, the loss was nothing to Lee and his sister, Carol, and their company, Lee Ceramics.
Siblings Jeff and Carol Lee load boxes of their ceramics at a warehouse in Campbell Industrial Park. The Lees, whose pottery is based on Hawai'i patterns, also developed a line of less-expensive pottery made in Hong Kong.
Their seven-year-old business continues to operate out of the downstairs studio in Jeff Lee's home in Waialua but has grown to generate $200,000 in annual sales and expects to see even more sales next year.
Their success is partly the result of finding and filling a niche for high-end, handmade pottery based on Hawai'i patterns. They've also developed a potentially bigger market for a second line of less-expensive mass-produced pottery made in Hong Kong.
But much of what keeps the business moving is also the result of a strong sister-brother relationship between the Lees in which they've made a few adjustments but never questioned the idea of working so closely together.
"Their relationship, in our eyes, is always great," said Debbie Costello, the owner of Island Treasures Art Gallery in Kailua, which has a separate wall unit devoted to Lee Ceramics and features the pieces in the store's brochure. "They're very sweet to each other. They have good hearts."
Macy's 10 Hawai'i department stores can't keep enough of the Lees' works in stock, said Tiffany Kim, the buyer for Macy's Island Home collection.
The Lees' hand-made, higher-end line varies in price at Macy's from $112 poi bowls to $350 for a large lamp — and all are big sellers.
This year alone, Macy's has sold $45,000 worth of Lee Ceramics. Of some 1,800 units, all but 100 were the lower-end pottery made from molds in China, Kim said.
Jeff and Carol would prefer that their cheaper "Hawai'i Aloha" collection was actually made in the Islands. But no company can mass produce them, they said. And no one can match the price and quality they found in Hong Kong. Just the cost of a 50-cent packing box in China would cost them $5 in the United States.
"It would be nice to do it here, but we can't," Carol said. "The scariest thing about going overseas is getting the quality we want."
With two part-time assistants helping, Jeff and Carol were pumping out 1,600 hand-made pieces per year and feeling the stress on their hands, arms and backs. They were also constantly told that their prices were out-of-reach for many consumers.
"We kept hearing from people who said, 'I hope someday I can afford these,' " Jeff said.
The economic slowdown that hit Hawai'i after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks helped push them toward the cheaper line based on their molds.
The Hawai'i Aloha collection now makes up 50 percent of their $200,000 gross sales this year. But next year, they expect to boost their business to $250,000.
Some day, they hope that the lower-end collection makes up the bulk of their business and they can focus on even higher-end, specialized pieces.
Jeff and Carol's father, George, was an artist but worked as an Episcopalian minister. Their mother, Grace, taught school at Iolani. It was the children who found both outlets and work in the arts.
Their older brother, Chris, 45, is a movie producer and co-founder of the University of Hawai'i's cinematic and digital arts degree program.
Carol, 43, used to paint fabrics and make quilts. Jeff, 42, fell in love with pottery at Iolani.
He worked for another pottery company while attending graduate school at UH, where he studied special education. In between teaching special education at Sunset Beach Elementary, Jeff went to craft shows and started developing the idea for pottery based on Hawaiian plants and flowers, sea life and animals.
He borrowed $20,000 from his parents and set up a studio underneath Chris' house. He hand carved patterns using the scgrafitto technique that involves applying a veneer of paint and then scraping it away until the pattern emerges.
"I had $20 in my bank account and I owed $20,000," Jeff said. "Luckily, my brother was my landlord, and he understood when I was late on the rent."
The big break came in 1996, when organizers of a gift show at the Hawai'i Convention Center desperately wanted local artists and offered free booths.
Jeff got 10 accounts and $10,000 in sales and Lee Ceramics began to take off.
Carol came aboard full time to do the books, manage the accounts and make pottery herself.
They sold to celebrities such as entertainers Robert Cazimero and Keali'i Reichel and now do business with 30 retailers from Japan to Arizona.
Then last year they got in contact with a Hong Kong manufacturer whose work they liked and invested $10,000 for an initial shipment of 1,200, five-piece wasabi sets. They now spend $40,000 for each 40-foot container that can hold about 18,000 bowls and 4,000 plates.
"They're definitely on to something," said Sandy Wooden, the buyer and retail division manager at Martin and MacArthur, which specializes in Hawai'i gifts. "They do incredibly well. We can't keep their pieces in stock, especially this time of year."
The other day, Wooden asked the Lees to push up an order for 300 units because a shipment container suddenly became available to send goods to Maui.
"We gave them less than 24 hours' notice, and they had that order ready for Maui by 11 a.m.," Wooden said. "We thought it would take a week or two. They couldn't be more wonderful."
Along the way, Carol and Jeff have had to learn to listen better to each other.
"It's also more intense," Carol said. "Before, we used to get together and just have fun."
But Jeff said he prefers to work with his sister.
"There's nobody you can trust like family," he said.
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
