We’re excited to kick off our new employee spotlight series—an opportunity for you to get to know the talented artisans in Hood River who bring your ceramics to life. First up: meet Hana, a skilled and creative member of our Wolf Ceramics team!
Hana made the move to the Pacific Northwest from sunny California to join our studio. With a background in biomedical engineering and a love for handmade craft, she brings a unique perspective to the team. Most days you’ll find her glazing, trimming, and generally keeping our dinnerware production on track—but her influence goes far beyond the workbench.
Let’s start with what you do most at Wolf. What do you love most about the glazing process?
"What I love most about the glazing process at Wolf is the variety of shapes and combinations I get to work with, as well as the exposure I get to all the forms we make here. It’s helped me understand how form and finish interact, and how even slight variability in either can significantly impact the final product."
You’re also part of the dinnerware production team—what’s your favorite form to make or technique to use?
"My favorite dinnerware form to make is probably the pasta bowl. I really enjoy the angled walls and how it feels during the making process. My favorite part across all forms is trimming. Trimming feels like the point where we can either really mess up a piece—or really perfect it. I enjoy that level of responsibility."
You came to ceramics from the medical device world (is that correct?)—what drew you from engineering into pottery?
"This is correct haha! I’ve always loved engineering and design, but the reality of that career for me was sitting in a cubicle for 40 hours a week. I was starting to feel burnt out and not like myself. I knew I needed a change and also wanted to experience life in the Pacific Northwest. I was doing pottery as a hobby at the time and figured I’d give this job a try. Sarah has been super amazing about giving me opportunities to do some engineering-type tasks around the studio, which has been awesome."
"This is correct haha! I’ve always loved engineering and design, but the reality of that career for me was sitting in a cubicle for 40 hours a week. I was starting to feel burnt out and not like myself. I knew I needed a change and also wanted to experience life in the Pacific Northwest. I was doing pottery as a hobby at the time and figured I’d give this job a try. Sarah has been super amazing about giving me opportunities to do some engineering-type tasks around the studio, which has been awesome."
How does your background in engineering influence the way you work in the studio?
"My engineering experience has taught me to always look for ways to optimize and to approach problems from all angles. I think it makes me more methodical in my work—which can sometimes mean I get in my own way, haha. I have to remind myself that we’re not being held to FDA regulations and that the small variations in handmade work are part of what make it special."
"My engineering experience has taught me to always look for ways to optimize and to approach problems from all angles. I think it makes me more methodical in my work—which can sometimes mean I get in my own way, haha. I have to remind myself that we’re not being held to FDA regulations and that the small variations in handmade work are part of what make it special."
What’s been the most satisfying project or challenge you’ve tackled at Wolf so far?
"Definitely the production spreadsheet! It gave me the most freedom to solve a problem in my own way. We use Google Sheets (basically Excel) to track all our production—what forms, styles, and quantities we need to be making each day or week. As Wolf has grown, our orders and timelines have gotten more complex, and the spreadsheet had become cluttered and difficult to use.
I’m in a unique position at Wolf because I have my hands in almost every part of the process, so I could see that the old spreadsheet wasn’t working well for everyone. I wanted to make it easier to use for each person who interacts with it and also try to 'foolproof' it a bit. That meant integrating some strategic formulas and streamlining how the information flows. Plus, it’s super satisfying to see my coworkers using it—and it not breaking, haha."
What’s something people might not realize about how much goes into making a dinner plate? Or about handmade ceramics production in general?
"There is so much attention to detail in every single piece of dinnerware we make. And there are so many things that can go wrong, at so many different points in the process. When I first started learning how to make dinnerware, it honestly felt like a momentous task—almost impossible. It did get easier, haha. It still feels like a challenge, but now it’s a fun one."
Outside of Wolf, you throw in your own home studio. How do you balance your personal practice with production work?
"That’s still a work in progress for me. I always feel like I should be making more in my home studio, but the Gorge is such an amazing place to live and explore—I have a lot of other hobbies that keep me busy too, haha."
"That’s still a work in progress for me. I always feel like I should be making more in my home studio, but the Gorge is such an amazing place to live and explore—I have a lot of other hobbies that keep me busy too, haha."
If you could invent a dream glaze, what would it look like?
"Oof, this is tough—but I think it would be a glaze that gives you the same feeling as looking at blue hydrangeas. I’m obsessed with that color blue in contrast with green leaves. Or maybe something that evokes the same feeling as seeing the moon just after sunset."
"Oof, this is tough—but I think it would be a glaze that gives you the same feeling as looking at blue hydrangeas. I’m obsessed with that color blue in contrast with green leaves. Or maybe something that evokes the same feeling as seeing the moon just after sunset."
Hana's adorable dog Bodi next to her favorite flowers