ELY — A “little dream about a pottery shop” has turned into a reality for Steffi and Zac Huberty. Three Jewels Pottery opened its doors on Sheridan Street last December after the couple spent the last three years renovating the older house that is located across the street from the Ely Folk School.
Three Jewels Pottery will have a booth for the first time at Harvest Moon Festival this weekend.
The shop is filled with wheel-thrown and hand-built pottery pieces designed not just for beauty but for everyday use in the home. The colors and patterns echo the designs found in nature.
While Steffi’s grandmother was a potter and had a studio, she didn’t learn her skills there. Instead, she started taking classes at the Ely Folk School about four years ago.

Arts and business
The couple is a good example of how the arts are shaping the Ely community.
Both Steffi and Zac moved to Ely about eight years ago, and both grew up in the greater Twin Cities area, but they had dreams about living up north. While Zac’s family had a cabin near Ely for over 30 years, Steffi moved after graduate school to work at a local nonprofit. Zac’s background is in software engineering, and he was working remotely.
“I wanted to live in a nicer place,” he said, “and my mother and brother had moved to this area. Steffi’s background was in experiential education and GIS.”
The couple met in Ely, at the nonprofit Hak Ely makerspace, which Zac had helped start in an upstairs storefront on Chapman St.
Steffi started taking pottery classes at the Ely Folk School about four years ago and soon was spending a lot of time learning and refining her skills. Zac soon joined in, also taking classes. The couple was renting an upstairs apartment above the folk school. When they saw a house across the street for sale, they started to dream about opening their own business.
“It took about three years to renovate the place,” they said. The storefront stands out with its summer flower gardens in the front, full of colorful native plants, bees, and butterflies. The basement holds their two kilns. The main floor is a storefront with their studio space visible in the back, allowing customers to see the pottery being made.
“It’s fun for people to see into our studio space,” Steffi said.
The couple lives upstairs. They admitted they actually don’t have a lot of their own pottery upstairs in their kitchen, just mostly some pieces that didn’t quite come out as expected so they couldn’t be sold. Though they do use pieces that were made by Steffi’s grandmother.
The store opened for business last December. They estimate they have gone through almost two tons of clay this last year.
“We have a number of different types of pottery on the shelves,” Zac said. “But we are excited to try more.”
While mugs are their top seller, they have a wide variety of plates, serving pieces, and even jewelry. Their pottery features Northwoods themes like pine trees, butterflies, native plants, bees, and loons. They use wooden rolling pins that they have laser-engraved to add patterns to slab work.
“The loons are pretty popular,” they noted.
They also offer custom work, both one-of-a-kind pieces and even full dinnerware sets, and they can ship their pieces out of the area.
“We have the friendliest customers,” said Zac.
“It’s so nice to chat with people and to see why they are in Ely,” said Steffi.
The couple has been looking forward to Harvest Moon. Their first-ever show was this summer’s Blueberry/Art Festival.
“It was so fun,” they said. “We had a such a nice time, and it was really fun to be part of all that energy.”
They said Blueberry was a huge boost for their business, and they will be taking all that they learned to this weekend’s Harvest Moon Festival.
“This has been a dream come true,” said Zac. “We have a home and can come downstairs and do this nice work.”
Though the couple admits the business takes a lot of time and work.
“I’ve had some 16-hour days,” said Steffi. The couple generally is working six days a week and at least eight hours a day, to keep the shop stocked as well as prepare for the weekend festivals.
While the summer has been busy, the two are looking forward to winter when the shop will be quieter.
“We are going to be trying some new things,” they said, “like garlic graters, covered pots, and sculpted pieces.” They will also be creating some new patterns with their laser engraver.
“We have new ideas all the time,” Steffi said.

The arts in Ely
“We love talking to people about art,” Steffi said. “We’ve connected with other potters, and artists, and shop owners in Ely. It’s exciting to see other artists coming into town.”
The couple would like to see Ely become more of an arts destination, as well as a Boundary Waters destination.
The couple also volunteers with other organizations in the area that support the community.
Zac has been working with Ely Community Resource as a mentor.
“It’s an amazing program,” he said. “People trying to do good things for other people.”