And what inspired you to start a ceramic business on top
of that? I didn’t start it as a business. I found this place in
my neighborhood in Brooklyn that offered ceramic lessons.
I was thrilled to discover them because I love making things
with my hands. I started taking classes purely for myself and
soon I realized I should be making things for my prop house.
I started making things and bringing them in and they had a
great reception. People started asking, “When will you start
selling pieces?” So slowly I did my website and I set up a
shopping site, which I do as a pop-up shop.
It’s really like having two full-time jobs. It is, but I have a
lot of fun with it, it’s not like work. I do have to find the right
balance to not feel too much pressure to produce all this work
to sell, which is why I don’t want to come up with my next sale
date. You can look for updates on my blog (elephantceramics.
blogspot.com), or sign up for my mailing list to find out the
next sale.
With its colors and textures, it seems like your work is
very nature-inspired. It definitely is. We live in Maine part of
the year and we’re fairly close to the coast and spend a lot of
time at the ocean. So all the colors of the water, the mussel
shells that wash up on the beach, coral and the surrounding
woods all inspire me. I mostly work in greens and blues with
a homespun linen texture that comes from my love of textiles
in college. I studied textile design and for my prop house I do
a lot of hand dying and stitching. I love that, and bring it into
my ceramics.
How many pieces do you make in a collection? You don’t
do table settings. Most of my pieces are serving or more
decorative pieces. If I make a set I’ll do 10 bowls that go
together, but they won’t be matching. They’ll be the same
shape or size but the glaze will be different. But everything I
make works well together.
Your business has grown so organically. Where do you
see yourself in the next few years? For me, this is truly
a whole learning process. I want to continue to make small
batches of pieces to sell. I want to keep this something I love
to do, and that means making these one-of-a-kind pieces, to
continue to explore shapes and patterns and colors.
