Tableware Today Interview - Colin Riggs + Ned Voelker
It’s a 40th anniversary for the company founded by Colin Riggs (left) and Ned Voelker’s parents, Abigail and Ed Voelker. Over the last four decades, the entire family has created a curated collection of handmade tableware and giftware for the nation’s independent store retailers.
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Congratulations on a milestone 40th year in business. Are you surprised Abigails has endured? Ned Voelker: We are surprised. It’s a tribute to Ed and Abbie because they paved the way. They turned over the reins to us several years ago, and we were trained well. We’re glad to be here because we love what we do, we work hard, and are good to people. It’s been kind of a natural flow; not at all out of our comfort zone. Colin Riggs: I agree completely. It’s so easy for us. We get along so well, think so much alike, and have fun working together. It happens organically. You reap the benefits when you enjoy what you do.
Lots of folks enjoy what they do, but their business may not succeed. Why has Abigails not only survived but thrived in a very competitive market, especially against much larger companies?
Riggs: We’ve had years where we’ve cut back greatly on SKUs and spending. Voelker: We never overlived our means. When times got tough, we hunkered down and found our way through. When COVID came around, we saw it as an opportunity, and things started taking off.
What do you mean? Voelker: We’re small enough that we didn’t have to shut down, and we continued to attend every market there was. We went to High Point, where we were one of just three vendors in our aisle. We picked up a lot of new customers that show; they saw us, we saw them, and we made connections. And we had inventory, which was a major thing. We’ve kept our momentum with record-breaking markets for the last two years.
Are Abbie and Ed still involved in the business?
Riggs: They both are. Ed is 95 and Abbie is 92, and they come in almost daily and are very active. Abbie is still involved in product development, and we work closely together. Ed works with Ned. He enjoys coming in and looking at the numbers.
Can you share the origin story of Abigails? Riggs: In 1984, Ed and Abbie were vacationing in Italy and fell in love with the oversized Italian pots they found in Tuscany. They went door to door, trying to find the artisans who made them. This was before Google, so it wasn’t easy. They found an array of glassware and planters, filled a container, and created a pop-up shop from a vacant storefront they owned in Alexandria, Louisiana; this was before there were pop-ups. It took years to sell that container, and because they had a lot of extra merchandise, they decided to take a booth at the New York Gift Show. Henri Bendel was their first customer, and the rest is history.
They were really pioneers because Italian goods weren’t readily available on these shores. Riggs: That’s right. They started with oversized statement glassware, like vases and candlesticks, which we still do very well with. These are timeless pieces.
Can you take me through some of the highs and lows over the last 40 years?
Voelker: One of the highs was after showing in New York that first time; people wanted to rep us. Abbie didn’t even know what a rep was. We quickly took showrooms in High Point and Atlanta, and business remained consistently good until the 2007/2008 recession, which reset everything and set us back quite a bit. It took years to rebuild to where we were before, and then COVID was another low. We were really worried, but the PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) money was a savior. At the beginning, no one was buying anything. The only thing we had going for us was our internet business; 2020 was the lowest point in our sales history. But between the PPP and our online business, we bridged the gap. Riggs: By October 2020, we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of business we started doing. People were buying for their homes because they were stuck inside. Sales took off and have been on the upswing ever since.
I’ve interviewed you over the years and am bemused how the company has remained consistent in size despite growing sales. Voelker: There were 10 to 12 employees when we last spoke seven years ago. Now we have a few more, but operations are more efficient, so we don’t need more workers. We just need efficiencies in systems.
I love the reason Abigails is not spelled with an apostrophe. Can you share why? Voelker: That was Abbie’s way of making the company inclusive. It’s not just her company; it’s everyone’s.
Colin, you handle product development with Abbie. How has the trajectory of the product design changed in 40 years? Riggs: We started going back to Italy more frequently prior to COVID. At one time, more than half of our production came from Italy. After the recession, though, price was a consideration because people were watching their pennies, and we felt we needed to branch out, working with factories in Asia. Voelker: It was a dollars and cents thing. We knew what looked good, and we kind of knocked ourselves off by making products with considerably lower prices, as much as one-third less. Riggs: But we felt a difference, and our customers did as well. There were just small and subtle differences in detail, but we knew we needed to make changes and go back to our roots. We came to realize that price is not as much of an issue as we thought it was. Now, at least half of what we make is from Europe; one-third of our catalog comes from Italy. Most of our glassware is from Poland. There’s a made-in Italy and Portugal cachet which our stores and their customers love. We work with 42 factories, most of which are small; a lot of family-owned factories that we’ve worked with since our start. We partner with fantastic artisans, the best in the world. That’s our niche. All of our products are handmade, handpainted, unique, artisanal keepsakes. It’s different than what other companies do. We just did a study on what moves, and we discontinued some pieces that weren’t selling, cleaning up the deadwood. We remain consistent, with about 1,000 SKUs in the line.
How has business changed the most in 40 years? Voelker: The internet, for good and bad. People are more educated, and they know what they’re looking for. It’s made shopping easier for the buyer. For us, it’s easier to get things made and see samples without visiting factories. It’s helped us tremendously getting colors right without a visit, but we still go to Europe once or twice a year. Riggs: On the other hand, the internet makes it hard to be unique. There are a lot of people knocking you off because they can easily see your products. But there is more good than bad. We can travel the world on the internet.
I want to pick up on something you said earlier about attending markets during the very early days of Covid. Why are trade shows so important to you? Voelker: At one time, we did 16 shows a year. We write one-third of our volume at shows and take a personal interest in all markets we’re in. We attend every market where we have showrooms, including Atlanta and High Point. We hear from our customers that they like seeing us there. We make it a point to make our customers feel comfortable, at home, and at ease when they’re shopping with us. One of my favorite roles is going to market and meeting customers. It’s hard and tiring, but it’s fun. Our customer service is the best. Our personnel always goes the extra mile. Riggs: We love hearing from our stores that they love coming to our showroom because they always find unique pieces, things they can’t find anywhere else. We work hard to keep the line interesting and not stale. We reach out to our customers with a great deal of in-house marketing. We’ve taken our social media outreach into our own hands and have greater involvement. And when you call us, we answer the phone. All of these things mean a lot today.
Most of your clientele remains in the South, right?
Voelker: Yes, at least 60% of our customers are in the south. It’s always been like that. We tried going to markets everywhere across the U.S., but it just boiled down to three markets: Atlanta, High Point, and Dallas. We found our niche.
So what’s not working?
Voelker: Although I can’t identify what’s not working, I can say that we’re constantly working to improve our customer experience. We want our customers to feel good from the point of ordering until delivery is made. Riggs: We know we don’t have strong national brand name recognition, but we’re fine with that. We’re very comfortable where we are. Our customer base knows the Abigails name, and we’re a destination in our market areas.
Isn’t the American way to grow bigger and bigger?
Riggs: We talk about that often. But we’re happy where we are; it works for us. Voelker: So you get bigger and end up with 100 employees making the same money but with more headaches. Why would I do that? Especially since I love what I’m doing now. Our employees have been here for years; they’re happy working here. We’re not reinventing the wheel every week. Riggs: If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
Why do you think the two of you work so smoothly together? Riggs: We have very defined roles. We’re small, and we overlap sometimes, but the fact that we have specific jobs and stay out of each other’s hair works very well for us. Ned and I are a lot like Abbie and Ed. Dad was the money guy, like Ned, and I do the design, like Abbie. There’s a real yin and yang between us, and sometimes it’s a little scary how well it works. And for me, working with Abbie has been wonderful all these years. We very often have ripped the same page from a magazine for inspiration. We have a very similar design language, which makes things easy.
How much has the company grown year to year?
Voelker: Our sales have doubled since we last talked to you in 2016. We sell to more than 5,000 independents, designers, florists, event planners, gift shops, restaurants, bars, and museums.
What’s the biggest item on your to-do list?
Riggs: For me, it’s getting our Instagram numbers up. We got hacked, had to close our account, and start from scratch. I’ll be happy when we hit 10,000. We’re getting there. Voelker: Working with suppliers in a quality control capacity and improving their packaging so we don’t have to make the same thing twice. Riggs: And I want to continue to work on more product categories. We’re now introducing linens and other accessories to complement our dinnerware. We have hand-block linens in 20 patterns that pair very nicely with our tableware. We also just launched salad servers from India and are working with straw mats and trays.
Why hasn’t the company branched beyond glassware and dinnerware previously?
Voelker: We have. For instance, we introduced furniture earlier but discovered that wasn’t our niche. We experimented with several different categories but have always returned to tableware and accessories.
How do you keep reinventing assortments?
Riggs: It’s hard keeping it fresh and fun. I do get stuck at times, but I just try to get over it. I’ll go to Italy and get inspired. Travel is great for that. I follow European designers. Instagram is a wonderful tool. Most ideas come from us, but we’ll always work with artists at the factories and literally create collections while we're there, like the Tuscan ceramic head vases, which we debuted ten years ago. We fell in love with them and now have 26 different designs.
I bet the prominent placement in the TV show White Lotus didn’t hurt. Riggs: That was fun and certainly didn’t hurt. Another bright spot for us has been Casa Nuno dinnerware (page 58), our new take on an old tradition. I was eyeing some old Talavera pieces from Spain and wanted a collection like that. So we developed this mix-and-match collection in three colorways of hand-painted plates influenced by beautiful antique Portuguese and Spanish Talavera. It’s very popular on Instagram.
You said there are about 1,000 items at any one time. How many pieces are launched yearly?
Riggs: About 150 SKUs throughout the year because we like to spread it out. But we always have a few more collections for markets in Atlanta and High Point.
Are assortments split evenly between ceramics and glass?
Riggs: We have more ceramics currently, about half of our SKUs. Glass is about 30%, and the remainder is wood, charcuteries, trays, frames, and linens. This is the area with the best growth potential. Glassware, though, is our stock intrade,e with color glass doing very well currently. And, of course, we do very well with champagne glasses, like Razzle Dazzle (right), which is still one of our best sellers.
What’s the best lesson you learned after 40 years?
Riggs: It’s important to keep things fresh and turn over products on a regular basis. And you have to have fun. Ned and I could still be here doing this at 90 because we have good genes. So we have to enjoy what we do. Voelker: For me, it’s about trusting your gut and sticking to your guns. And Colin’s right. We’re having fun, so there’s no real exit plan or strategy. We should be around for awhile.