BY LISA BIANK FASIG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The butter-dish concept struck Shirley Thrope as she tried to solve a table-top problem for her daughter. But spinning it into an endeavor? That idea came surprisingly soon after.
And it illustrates how an entrepreneur can be the flip side of an artist.
Mrs. Thrope, of Montgomery, is founder of Fun Glass, a tiny manufacturer she founded last year to make her glass butter dishes. How small? She's it. Creating a business, she decided, could help support her and husband, Joel, into retirement.
"I want to be an entrepreneur," the former painter and sculptor said. "I would like to make money.
"I'm hoping this will be an excellent supplement for us." It started in California with her daughter, who was seeking a butter dish to match her china. They had no luck. So when she returned, Mrs. Thrope created one and then made more for friends.
She fantasized of a romantic retirement; "envisioned traveling from craft show to craft show," she said.
On her next trip to California, she brought the dishes, each decorated with flowers or frogs or lady bugs. She showed one to a shop owner near Thousand Oaks, and the owner ordered 10.
Similar story in Florida. Mrs. Thrope came to visit friends with the glass gifts, and another shop owner, in Boca Raton, ordered 10.
When she came home, she exhibited the dishes for the Wine Store and the Bake House, both in Montgomery. They each ordered some, which she decorated with wine bottles and pigs holding bread.
"They truly are unique," said Mary Fruehwald, owner of the Wine Store. "Each one is designed and made individually by the artist. And the theme of each piece is different; they appeal to a wide group of people."
Mrs. Thrope also sells them at the Wise Center gift shop in Amberley Village, where she works as a marriage coordinator.
It's a good sign, but Mrs. Thrope isn't likely to put the dishes in additional stores, she said. There is overhead, because of the commission, and Mrs. Thrope doesn't want to charge more than $30. The only way to cut costs through retailers is through volume, and to create volume, the dishes would have to be mass-produced. This is where the artist and entrepreneur have a reckoning. Mrs. Thrope explains with sentences of sighs. A mass producer would wash away the artistic significance of the plates -- they would lose their individuality. On the other hand, she doesn't want to write off the opportunity of a comfortable retirement.
"If I were making them in mass (numbers), I'd be making some money," she said.
The compromise: She is considering having a few designs mass-produced, while she continues to create specially designed dishes and vases. The outlet? She and Mr. Thrope are working on an Internet Web site. And they are preparing to travel. She and Mr. Thrope will be at the Montgomery Art Show in September.
"I really wanted to sell them in the shows," Mrs. Thrope said. "That's what triggered it."
She also is traveling to decidedly non-entrepreneurial venues. In the fall, she'll be shipping two vases to Columbus to be part of the "The State of Ohio Glass," exhibit at the Vern Riffe Gallery.
Lisa Biank Fasig covers small-business news for The Enquirer. Call her at 768-8498 or e-mail her at lfasig@enquirer.com.
