Tiffany’s family has been in the retail pottery business for nearly 50 years. In the spring of 2005 several of the local potteries announced that they were going out of business. With the thought that the local potteries were quickly dwindling, Ross & Tiffany, with the support of both of their families started talking about buying the Zanesville location of Robinson Ransbottom. The Zanesville plant was much newer and very efficient in comparison to the others. The other key factor was Tom Drabik. He had been the plant manager since the plant’s existence and agreed that if they could get it purchased, he would stay with them. With a lot of number crunching, meetings with bankers, and late nights spent figuring out how to make it work, the couple went to the auction in June and were successful at purchasing all of the equipment in the building as it sat. Later that week they settled with the owner of the building and closed the deal. On July 5, 2005 Ohio Stoneware was open for business. In the beginning they had three employees and manufactured roughly nine items. Their grand opening was celebrated during the Pottery Lovers Reunion on July 15, 2005.
