Michael Totah, the owner of The Wheel, started making pottery in college, then about 10 years ago, started selling to some restaurants. His work for restaurants grew by word of mouth. He then started distributing through a restaurant supply company and is now selling to restaurants across the country. Some of his clients include The Lodge at Torrey Pines, La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, Roppongi, Cafe Japengo, PF Chang's, MGM, Hyatt, Roy's, and Harrah's.

All his pottery is made with clay and glaze that are fired at a very high temperature making the final piece very against chipping. Everything can be custom made or you can choose from one of their standard designs. Large dinner plates are about $20. Smaller items are less and larger items are more, so you can kind of guess at the prices of mugs and platters. As you can see below, this is true handmade pottery.

It was interesting to learn about Chinese pottery where they have a long tradition of making it. There are many skilled people in the pottery world there, and with low labor costs, they can produce high quality pottery (if you know what to look for) at a low price. What I've personally seen, though, has looked like standard factory china and lacks character.