Homer Laughlin: Designing A New Future for A Legendary American Brand

A Conversation with E. C. Wonder, Director of Design at Homer Laughlin China

Several months ago, we scheduled a visit with HLC Dinnerware’s Director of Design, Edwin Wonder to discuss the industry, his company, and the design thinking on its various hospitality tabletop brands, Homer Laughlin, Hall China, and RAK Porcelain. Little did we know that a couple of seismic changes would happen between our agreeing to the meeting with Ed and the recent day the meeting finally took place.

A new look….a new feel……and, yes, just maybe a breath of new, fresh air, has arrived at the Homer Laughlin China Company.
First of all, industry veteran Gene Williamson has been hired as the new VP, Sales & Marketing for the hospitality and foodservice portion of HLC business. Skilled in nearly all aspects of foodservice tabletop, perhaps Williamson’s best skill is simply getting things accomplished. Known to be hard working and relentless, Williamson will bring an experienced level of energy and tenacity to the entire foodservice business at HLC. That was one major change from the time that Ed had agreed to meet with us.

The second major change came very recently, with the naming of a new president of Homer Laughlin and HLC Dinnerware, with former president Joe Wells III moving to the Chairman’s role after guiding the company so deftly as President and a wide variety of other capacities for the past 50 years. If the focused, engaging personality, and high energy level displayed in a brief meeting with new President Liz McIlvain is any sign of things to come, the foodservice business of Homer Laughlin is about to become a bit more up-tempo and forward thinking. Clearly, a new era in leadership of Homer Laughlin and its foodservice business is emerging. So, while our visit to Homer Laughlin had a decidedly different backdrop from when we first discussed scheduling our meeting, we appreciated that company design guru Ed Wonder kept the focus on design when we sat down to have a conversation about the creative component of HLC Dinnerware.

“Most of the world knows us as Fiesta, which is only 1 shape out of 18 separate dinnerware lines that we do,”commented Wonder. “We do all these other great things and people say ‘oh- you do that, too?’ Through design, we think we truly differentiate our company.” And make no mistake about it, when Ed Wonder speaks about design, he speaks about design being patterned and undecorated china, about design in shapes and forms and throughout the conversation, he weaves in how colored glaze is actually a pattern design, along with the particular body color of undecorated china….all a part of the idea of dinnerware design at Homer Laughlin. HLC Dinnerware’s Edwin Wonder Through his many years in the dinnerware business, Ed Wonder knows that tabletop is critical to the operator in helping distinguish their restaurant for their guests, “In the hospitality business, I believe if you’re going to do anything to differentiate your restaurant establishment, it’s got to be on the tabletop. Perhaps only the person you are having your meal with and the food itself are more important….after that, what you see and retain more than anything else is what’s on the table in front of you. And the dinnerware can absolutely improve the guest’s perception of the meal without any changes to the menu itself.”

So, what makes Homer Laughlin different from the many other companies that supply dinnerware to the hospitality industry? If you speak more than a few minutes to someone with the passion that Wonder has been bringing to the industry for more than 36 years, you will hear words like “responsibility” and “trust”.
“We have a first responsibility to provide product that restaurateurs can count on to be functional, practical, and that is going to perform for them – day in and day out. That sense of responsibility is the first thing I think of at Homer Laughlin because when people hear our name, they expect it to be a product they can trust,”says Wonder. “That practicality requires a certain mindset when you approach the design of a new piece or shape. At Homer Laughlin a design is just an idea until someone is actually using it”.”

BOSQUE by Homer Laughlin While performance is a cornerstone of Homer Laughlin’s heritage, style and design are key parts of the creative process for Wonder and his team, as well. “The other part of our responsibility is the entertainment factor – that’s always the fun part,” he commented. “Our ability to take a standard dinner plate and do something different with it through color, decorating, embossment, or some other design aspect is where the fun comes in. Even juxtaposing certain tabletop items together in unique combinations that you haven’t seen before can elevate the level of the food and the dining experience. And, while it’s fun to be different on the high-end aesthetically with avant-garde, cutting edge products….I’m not always sure that’s what our responsibility is at Homer Laughlin.” 

Being a totally “in-house” American manufacturer affords Homer Laughlin both great flexibility and quality control versus other dinnerware companies that might have to outsource parts of the design, color development, decorating, and manufacturing processes. Homer Laughlin does the entire process in their single location, a 37 acre facility that employs over 800 people in Newell, West Virginia. An interesting point also is that everything backstamped Homer Laughlin is actually made at Homer Laughlin, everything backstamped Hall China is actually made at Hall and, finally…. everything marked RAK Porcelain is actually made at the RAK factory. Flexibility and control runs throughout all three of the brands of HLC.

Inspiration for Ed Wonder and his design team comes from a variety of sources including marketplace trends and also from internal reviews to see where there might be gaps in the company’s wide range of products. Gaps might be hard to find as you consider the breadth of products that HLC has to offer to the foodservice and hospitality customer. With the addition of Hall China and RAK Porcelain to the already wide range ofHomer Laughlin products, it seems there is hardly room for gaps.

“Our collections are good and we aren’t interested in fads,” says Wonder. “Although, we may do something to respond to a food trend that’s happening at the moment, we know that going in. We’re much more interested in trends that are building over the long term that we can creatively support with new items, patterns or colors.”Homer Laughlin also utilizes relationships with its wholesaler network, chain restaurants, and chefs as sources for new designs whether they be pattern or shape. In the last ten years, Wonder feels chefs have become much more of a source of inspiration and feels that will only continue to grow. “As artists themselves, chefs now sit with dinnerware designers as equal partners – and deservedly so – in the creative process. That is inspiring and exciting to both sides”

As we wound up our hour-long conversation with Ed Wonder, the veteran dinnerware designer commented,“These are pretty exciting times at Homer Laughlin. And these things tend to build on themselves. New people, fresh ideas, new energy, new ideas…..it’s going to be fun.”

We couldn’t agree more. With a 140-year legacy as American’s largest dinnerware manufacturer, several world class brands added to their portfolio, and a new energetic leadership team for foodservice….it looks like fun is on the drawing board for the future at Homer Laughlin.