Black Oak Art's Homegrown Business Perseveres for 15 Years

by Kourtney David, Contributing Writer

From humble beginnings in the garage of Sara and Jonathan Martin to a thriving studio and storefront on Franklin Avenue, Black Oak Art is celebrating 15 years of perseverance and creating thoughtful art.

The company creates handmade custom wholesale pottery, including logo mugs for in-house use, employee gifts or for resale. Employing about 25 workers, each piece touches about six pairs of hands, explained owner Sara Martin, as artisans prep the Texas-sourced clay, throw it, trim it, stamp it and attach a handle, fire pieces in the kiln, glaze the ceramic and ensure each piece’s quality before being shipped or hitting stores.

“Everything we make, everything’s by hand,” she said. “I mean, there are a few machines like the kilns … It’s somewhat an assembly line, but it’s all human touch.”

Martin noted the special joy of knowing Black Oak’s one-of-a-kind pieces will eventually become someone’s favorite mug or part of their daily routine. Each ridge on a plate, cup or vase is created by someone’s fingers, creating a more personal experience with each use and a “really lovely expression of humanity,” Martin elaborates.

“You’re buying something and you’re supporting people that are getting paid a fair wage to live in our community to make something … it’s all going into our community, into our state, which is a great idea,” Martin said.

Martin’s husband Jonathan, who passed away in August 2022, majored in studio art at Baylor University with an emphasis in ceramics. He had a garage studio where he would create art just “for the love of it,” Martin said.

Black Oak Art got its start in 2008, with its first order from friend and Common Grounds founder, Jill Barrett, who was in search of a handmade mug to use in the store. Using a new technique for carving words into mugs, Jonathan created a mockup with the coffee shop’s logo stamped in and Barrett loved it, marking the company’s first order, Martin said. The business’ next big break came when family friends Chip and Joanna Gaines began to reopen Magnolia’s first Waco storefront, the Little Shop on Bosque, in 2014. Martin said Joanna Gaines commissioned a couple mugs after having the idea to put a few items with the Magnolia logo in the store as their show “Fixer Upper” gained some popularity.

“Up until then there was nothing logoed with Magnolia … they bought a few of those and, you know, fast forward a year and a half and all of a sudden they’re ordering,” Martin said. “Jonathan quits his day job, hires people, gets a studio space and gets more kilns.”

As Magnolia’s popularity grew so did its orders from Black Oak, going from 50 mugs a week to 100, then to multiple thousands per month, all over the span of two years.

More businesses across McLennan County began to order wholesale, and Black Oak kept expanding and outgrowing studios. That is until in 2017, when the Martins decided to open up their storefront, Gather on Washington Avenue, to sell products to customers directly.

Black Oak Art is celebrating its 15-year anniversary in 2023, and Martin said she gives a lot of the credit for the business’ success to her husband’s foresight and ability to always say yes to the challenge.

“A lot of it is being in the right place at the right time,” said Martin. She noted that Jonathan had the presence of mind to never say no, which was essential for when Magnolia’s business skyrocketed.

Even as the company received orders of increasing size that seemed impossible, at first, to finish in their garage studio, Martin said, Black Oak never shied away. There were times when Magnolia doubted the small business’ ability to produce the numbers they needed to stay stocked, but because they valued Waco-made products and their relationship, they always let Black Oak try, she said.

“A couple times [Jonathan] would take out a short-term loan because to grow that fast, you have to have money to meet the demand,” Martin said. “So there was some risk-taking involved …

take out a short-term loan, buy more kilns, hire more people … All these risks he took with the hope that this could just keep growing and that we could grow our company and yes, meet Magnolia’s demand, but also use that as an opportunity to grow even bigger.”

Black Oak Art started as a Waco business by happenstance, but it stays because of the friendship and support it has garnered along the way, Martin said. She thought the couple would stay in Los Angeles where they moved after getting married, but their church, friends and Waco community brought them back for good.

“Even Magnolia we couldn’t have known, but that was an extension of the community we put ourselves in, you know, we had those connections,” she said.

Martin pointed out that some entrepreneurs get lost in big cities because of the saturation of businesses that are already there or that hope to move there. She said Waco doesn’t have the same fight for clientele, and especially didn’t prior to Waco’s downtown revitalization when Black Oak opened, and Waco businesses are part of a synergy that isn’t found in big cities. The artisan industry is hard-fought, Martin said, but since Black Oak’s inception so many businesses, galleries and events have popped up in town to help small art businesses land on their feet and made the Waco economy boom into what it is today as an art-friendly market. Waco also has the practical benefit of a low cost of living, a necessity for someone starting their own business who may have to live on less for a while, she said.

“Even though [Waco] is growing and sometimes doesn’t feel like a small town, it’s a small town in the sense of the community, the care, the ease to probably get to know the people that you need to,” Martin said.

Black Oak recently brought on the world-renowned Louisiana beignet spot, Café Du Monde, as a logo mug client and is working to expand its client base outside Waco, though the town will always be home to the business, Martin said. They are also working on some new pieces to be offered at Magnolia and expanding their brand as a place to find thoughtfully sourced items that can’t be found anywhere else. n

Black Oak Art
1619 Franklin Ave
Waco, TX 76701
blackoakart.com
(254) 732-1533