Despite losing an estimated $1 million in business due to Hurricane Helene, East Fork Pottery is having a successful year. This week, the 15-year old ceramic manufacturer, known for its sleek and colorful dishware, announced it will invest $2.5 million to grow its production facility in Biltmore Village.
Alex Matisse, the founder and CEO of East Fork, said the expansion will add 30,000 square feet to the company’s main production facility on Caribou Road and add 40 new positions to its 125-member team. The jobs pay an average of $26 per hour, he said. The goal is to double production – again – over the next three years.
Matisse said he feels “lucky” to see the business continue to grow amid the local economic challenges wrought by Helene, as well as waning consumer confidence nationwide. In 2024, the company made 690,000 pots – more than doubling its numbers from 2021.
Matisse credits much of this year’s success to East Fork’s new “Matisse Collection,” which honors the potters’ great-grandfather: renowned French artist Henri Matisse. The mugs, plates and platters in the new collection are emblazoned with some of the artists’ most iconic images, including the cobalt-blue, paper cut-out figures from Matisse’s "Blue Nudes" series.
In the company’s early years, Matisse kept the legacy of his grandfather close to his chest. “I had a hard time with it,” he said. “I wanted to build something with its own presence and its own name.”
Now that the company has evolved, he’s more comfortable with it, he said. “Customers have really responded to it. They love the collection and it shares his work in this new way with a new group of people and makes it very accessible in a sort of everyday fashion,” he said. “It’s been a beautiful moment of reconnection for me.”
East Fork’s expansion comes at a crucial time for the Asheville economy, which is still suffering in the aftermath of Helene, according to Clark Duncan, the Executive Director of the Asheville-Buncombe Economic Development Coalition. A survey from Mountain BizWorks reported that the average small business lost $322,000 due to Helene.
“To have East Fork investing, creating jobs, and growing at this point in our history is just hugely important,” Fowler said in an interview. “I think as a community, we have to celebrate every step that we take further away from the injuries of Sept 27. And so, seeing new jobs created in this community, at meaningful wage levels, are a great indicator of confidence in the future of Asheville.”
East Fork is the third company in Buncombe County to announce an expansion this year, Duncan said. In January, aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney announced a $285 million expansion that included 325 jobs. And in June, Fuel Goods, an endurance sports nutrition company, announced a $1.7 million expansion that included 47 new positions.
