East Fork Vernacular
A language has grown up here, a mix of words and phrases shaped by the people who make our pots and the people who use them. This is our dictionary. If you’ve been around a while, you probably speak a little of it already.
Pots: Short for pottery, and the word we most often use to describe what we make. Plates, bowls, mugs—they’re all pots.
Vessel: At its simplest, a pot that holds something—a bowl for congee, a mug for coffee, a pitcher for water. But at East Fork, "vessel" means more. It’s a reminder that East Fork is a vessel for employment, for living wages, for community, for the meals that bring people together.
Form: The way we categorize our pots—mugs, bowls, plates.
Core: Our year-round, always available forms and colors.
Seasonal: Non-core colors we release multiple times a year that are available to shop seasonally.
Limited: Limited colors are non-core colors that we release in limited, finite quantities. Once they’re sold out, they’re sold out.
First: A pot that meets our highest quality standards—flawless in form and finish.
Second: Aesthetically flawed pots that are still fully functional and food-safe, sold at a discount.
Stoneware: The type of clay we use. High-firing clay containing iron and other transition metals, yielding a buff to dark brown/red fired color. Stoneware is used for many types of food-related products because of its relatively low porosity.
Speckles: The beloved spots on our pots, created by iron reactions during firing.
Potter’s Bowl: A bowl with deep, rounded sides and a flat foot, inspired by traditional wheel-thrown forms.
Shallow Bowl: Our most versatile bowl series, low-slung with a gentle curve.
Low-Slung: The easy, graceful curve of a well-thrown form. A descriptor we use when something just sits right in the hand
Feet: The raised, unglazed base of a pot, grounding it with a tactile, bare clay moment.
Nesting: The way our bowls and plates stack together—intentionally designed for both beauty and function.
Wheel-Thrown: Pottery that is hand-thrown on a wheel. At East Fork, this is almost exclusively speaking about our East Fork Workshop program.
Pothead: Our (loving) name for East Fork collectors.
The Mug or #TheMug: Our most iconic form, with a cult following to match. It’s more than just a mug—it’s The Mug.
Shelfie: Like a selfie, but of your shelves, cabinets or collection. A moment of pride, a curated collection.
#AwkwardMugSelfie: A quirky community tradition. A chance to show off your favorite pot—and maybe your sleepy morning face, too.
East Fork Rainbow: A full spectrum of our pottery, stacked or arranged in a colorful gradient.
“The Form I Reach For Most”: Everyone has their go-to pot, and this is how they tell us about it.
Heft: The perfect weight—not too light, not too heavy. Substantial in the hand, a little grounding, always satisfying.
Hand Feel: That intangible quality that makes you want to keep holding a pot. A balance of weight, texture and form that just feels right.
Living Wage: A commitment to paying our team fairly, ensuring that making beautiful things doesn’t come at the expense of the people who make them.
Equity: More than a buzzword—an ongoing practice of making East Fork a better, fairer place to work and engage with.
B Corp: A certification that holds us accountable to doing business for good, environmentally, socially and financially. A recognition, but also a responsibility.
