On a Friday in late 2016, Bogdan, co-owner of a family pottery in western Ukraine, got a call from an unknown foreign number. The caller, a Swiss entrepreneur named Floris Schmuki who was working his way down a list of Ukrainian ceramics workshops, asked one question: "do you speak english?"
On Monday, Bogdan was standing in the arrivals hall of Chernivtsi's tiny regional airport, watching Schmuki walk out with luggage stuffed full of ceramic production molds. No contract, no due diligence, no weeks of back-and-forth — one phone call, one flight, and work began.
