Mica de Lut is a ceramics studio and small shop making mugs, bowls, and tiles in short production runs. Founder Andrei Popa took the Buy Small pledge to make more of the studio’s purchasing budget reach independent Romanian businesses instead of defaulting to large catalog suppliers. He began recording supplier spend by business size and reviewing the list before each quarterly reorder. Where quality and delivery needs are comparable, the studio now asks a local independent supplier for a quote first. It also created a small buffer for buying clay and packing materials from nearby firms, whose minimum quantities are sometimes higher. In the first two quarters, 22 percent of supplier spending went to independent businesses, up from 14 percent. A local box maker has since developed a better-fitting recyclable carton for the studio’s fragile products. Andrei says the pledge is not about choosing on price alone; it is about making sure small suppliers are considered early enough to compete. The studio publishes its progress internally each quarter.
