Leelanau Pottery Company, Where You Can Make One-of-a-Kind Christmas Ornaments

If you’re looking for a unique gift or something to do, then the might be the perfect place.

It’s in Suttons Bay and has made a name for itself in a few short years.

It all started four years ago when Stephanie Starner took a pottery class.

“My kids were at school during the day, and I was kind of needing something to busy myself,” said Stephanie Starner, Owner of Leelanau Pottery Company.

Starner not only fell in love with pottery but wanted her work in the class to stand out, so she began doing a bubble glaze technique.

She quickly saw she had something unique and opened the Leelanau Pottery Company.

“I go to Vance Beach in Leland to look for rocks and walk along the beach. So I coined my work to look like where the bubbles meet the beach,” explained Starner.

Starner makes handmade plates, and platters to ornaments that have caught the attention of Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth.

You can not only buy Starner’s pottery, but you can also learn to do it yourself through one of her classes.

“The cool part is, is as you are breath creating your own bubbles or like if you bring your grandkids if you’re a grandparent, it’s their breath creating the bubbles on the Christmas ornament, which if you get sentimental about it, which I do, I think is darling and amazing. So if you take that route, it’s really special,” said Starner.

For Starner, the journey of being a small business owner has brought challenges, but the joy she gets from creating art and connecting to people has made it all worth it.

“I’m at my home studio working a lot because if I’m in here, I’m not shy, so I kind of like to chat, so I get a little chatty, and then I don’t get my work done,” said Starner.