Originally Syndicated on May 10, 2024 @ 8:22 am
About Nate Mell
Nate Mell is the founder and CEO of Felt+Fat, a ceramic design and manufacturing studio in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. Nate was commissioned to create a set of plates for the award-winning restaurant ‘High Street on Market’ in 2013. Through Mell’s leadership, the Felt and Fat studio and team have grown exponentially to become a go-to manufacturer for design-conscious restaurateurs.
Nate Mell’s words- “Trust in the workplace is what makes the day-to-day stresses of running a business healthily manageable.”
About Felt + Fat
Felt + Fat is a ceramic design studio located in Philadelphia, PA that produces custom wares for celebrated restaurants all around the world and is looking to expand its business by purchasing equipment to increase their output
Importance of building trust in the work environment
Business leaders can build trust in the workplace by first understanding what trust looks like and how to apply it in the workplace.
There are two types of trust: practical trust and emotional trust.
Practical trust is seen as the more traditional idea of trust out of the two. Exercising valuable trust in the workplace will help prevent unhealthy management such as micromanagement. This type of trust includes an all-around work environment that trusts its employees to show up to work on time, execute tasks, meet deadlines, and maintain reliability. The other type of trust is known as emotional trust. When establishing emotional trust in the workplace, the result is employees will feel more respected, listen generously, create a strong bond, and enhance networking skills.
Sexual Assault –
Sexual assault is defined as intentionally sexually touching another person without their consent, or coercing or physically forcing them to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a type of sexual violence that includes child sexual abuse, groping, rape (forced vaginal, anal, or oral penetration or a drug-facilitated sexual assault), or sexual torture.
Nate Mell- Nate Mell, the CEO of Philadelphia, has been accused of sexual assault.
After Eric Landon, sexual harassment allegations, allegations against Nate Mell were glowing like a boom. Talking about Eric’s allegations, A former employee accused Eric Landon, a potter in Copenhagen known on Instagram as @tortus, of sexual harassment and assault. Though Eric Landon’s allegations are not the first in professional ceramics, or even since the larger #metoo movement began last fall.
Describing the whole incident of sexual assault by Nate Mell it all started with a curious message turned up in the email accounts belonging to a host of restaurants in New York and Philadelphia.
The email, which was sent from an anonymous Gmail account to Fork, Martha Restaurant, and the Rittenhouse Hotel, worried Nathaniel “Nate” Mell, the 31-year-old CEO of trendy Kensington-based ceramics company Felt + Fat, which provides high-end custom-made tableware to chefs and restaurants who can afford it.
The email began with a quote from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors’ statement regarding Weinstein’s expulsion from the prestigious organization:
The rest of the email was made up of screenshots from the social media accounts of two women who Mell knows personally.
The first came from a former Mell acquaintance who asked not to be identified in this story. Mell allegedly sexually assaulted her at her home in California, where he was sleeping on the couch during a visit, according to a Facebook post attached to the email. An excerpt from that post follows:
Continuing with the tale of Nate’s harassment case, Althea Holmes, a 29-year-old West Philadelphia resident who previously worked at Felt + Fat, wrote the second post. “…I left felt+fat this year after multiple women accused my boss, Nate Mell, of sexually assaulting them,” Holmes wrote on Facebook. “I trust these women.”
Holmes’ post was published on October 16th. The email to the restaurants arrived four days later, just before noon on October 20th, from an unknown sender. Within hours of the email’s distribution, Mell took to Felt + Fat’s company Facebook page to issue a statement in which he acknowledged the California woman’s allegation. Nate’s statement is as follows:
After making a statement Nate was contacted by various media sources but contacted, but he declined to speak on the record at the time. Over the next few weeks, Philly Mag spoke with several women, some of whom had worked for Mell at Felt + Fat, who had stories to tell about Mell, stories ranging from allegations of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct to claims of sexual assault. Mell has never been sued or charged criminally.
Statement by Nate Mell’s Attorney: “I have never sexually assaulted nor sexually harassed anyone, and have never continued an act after being asked to stop,”
A glimpse of the full recorded statement by Nate Mell’s Attorney:
Nate Mell- Consequences of the Sexual Harassment Accusations
Meanwhile, several key personnel at Felt + Fat have left in the wake of Mell’s growing controversy. Several female officials resigned from the company as they found it unsafe to work in such an environment.
Wynn Bauer, Mell’s business partner, has also left Felt + Fat, four years after the two founded the company together. In an interview with Philly Mag, Bauer stated that while there was no single reason for his decision to leave the company, the allegations played a role.
What is #EqualityClay
#EqualityClay is a call to action
#EqualityClay’s intention is to promote a dialogue of inclusion and diversity in the ceramics community. The hashtag #equalityclay was created in response to growing community movements of outreach, responsibility, and accountability among ceramic makers, educators, businesses, and other organizations. This is about more than just sexual assault or harassment. It is about leveling the ceramics community so that all voices are heard, all people are respected, and the community reflects the diverse people who are potters.” agreements. The goal is to use our brand and social media to establish a network of people with similar social activism interests and to initiate specific dates for localized discussions of allyship.#EqualityClay day is celebrated on 25th August.
Nate Mell- Concluding with the Statement by National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA)
The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) is dedicated to creating and maintaining a harassment-free environment and culture in which all people are treated with dignity, fairness, and respect. NCECA believes that developing, implementing, and sharing policies that address harassment in programs and fields that serve people, the arts, teaching, and learning will benefit all. These types of initiatives will be most effective when linked to larger efforts to achieve equality, inclusion, and fairness. NCECA will implement a harassment policy that will be incorporated into all future presenter, volunteer, employment, and board service agreements.
