So, you want to become a potter?
Pottery Pocketbook - Part 1: The allure and the myths
There is nothing wrong with thinking about making money doing the craft you love. The idea for this series came from personal experience in getting into pottery. I have been thinking about these things, writing in my diary for quite a while. It is time to organize this idea, and maybe you will find it useful.
You are someone who is looking to start a pottery studio, or may already run one, and wants to improve your business. You look for advice on the internet, and you land on articles like this. Even though there are some concrete ideas provided in the articles, they are never fully explained. “Go take business classes.”
Of course, you know business is important, but the decision is much more than just the business aspect. It is a menagerie of ideas and emotions, and its core is why you want to do pottery in the first place.
You go searching for business classes and land on a YouTube video, and just like that, it is 10 PM, and you have watched 30 videos on entrepreneurship, and you don’t have a single clue on what to do next. It is going to take hours and days for you to compile the relevant information or even identify what you should be doing at the current stage of your business.
The reality is that most of the studio pottery is run with limited resources, and it is a classic situation where the artist, who is not fond of selling or business, is forced to think about selling and business.
So what if there is a way to synthesize these ideas, but cater it more towards the business of pottery? That is where the idea for this series came from. I am hoping to provide you with a framework that you can use to answer your own questions. No one can give the advice that is right for you, but you can certainly employ some exercises to arrive at a solution that is right for you.
I will borrow and transpose ideas from various books and resources I have read over the years. Some of which I will mention towards the end of this article, and I will be releasing these in parts. So, make sure to subscribe to the newsletter to get the upcoming parts in your inbox!
Ceramics vs pottery
I am assuming that the information provided in this series will be useful for people who are transitioning into the field of pottery after having spent a considerable amount of time in a different field. However, this information should be useful generally for people who are in the business of studio pottery. It is also important not to conflate the idea of ceramics and pottery.
Ceramics as an industry is a wider spectrum of business that involves manufacturing tiles, sanitaryware, and special equipment for hospitals and the military. The segment that we are concerned with is the studio pottery business run by individuals or a team of people, usually operating as a small or medium-sized business.
How it begins: the allure of clay.
One day, you come home from work, feeling stressed out. Your work is taking a mental and physical toll, and you want to get out of the miserable situation. You watch a reel on someone claiming pottery is relaxing and therapeutic, you take one class to check it out, and you fall in love with clay instantly.
Pottery has existed for several thousand years, and it is, in fact, a part of ourselves. One can understand why it is so easy to get sucked into this immediately. The videos on Instagram are satisfying to look at, the music is enchanting, maybe some ASMR thrown in to multiply the stimulation level, and the production quality is top-notch.
“This looks so cool! Maybe I should sign up for a long-term course”. You sign up for a several-month-long course, quit your job, and quickly learn you suck at pottery. Frustration begins, and you push through it. Complete the course, and now you feel like starting your studio is the next logical step. “I have a conviction in making this work”. You buy a wheel, you buy clay, you buy an electric kiln, you rent a space, and finally, you are here, to make it happen and…
SLAP “Who is going to buy my pots!?”
SLAP “How break-even?”
Everyone you know is quitting their desk job to turn into a farmer, potter, or woodworker. They are going full doomer and settling on a farm off the grid, and focusing on sustainable living. They assert their moral superiority over you, and now you are being peer pressured into doing something of that sort.
With people projecting the positive aspects of their new journey, the difficulties are often overlooked. We don’t know anything about their bank balance or how they are making money in their new endeavor. You talk to people who have done this, and it always seems like either they have financial support from family, or they have worked for decades and saved up money that enabled this transformation.
Dispelling the myths
When it comes to pottery, there are the “rites of passage” that are forced upon you. You want to do this, then that, and that aaaaaand that, and after 10 years, you are finally worthy of calling yourself a potter. This is the romantic version of pottery you see very often promoted on Instagram and elsewhere.
Some common myths that you hear when you get started:
Only the romantic version of the pottery is good pottery.
A starving artist is the right kind of artist
You have to be at the pinnacle of your craft to make money.
You need to undergo several years of internship to be valued as a potter
Production pottery is the “real deal”. Only production pottery can prove your self-worth.
Does it mean your pottery journey is doomed from the beginning? Not really, some people are pottering successfully without taking these paths. I often find that narrative to be the limiting. These are personal value systems, and good art can be produced by someone who has practiced for 1 year or 1 decade. There is no right or wrong way to go about it.
For a newcomer who is starting their journey, they are filled with doubts
The necessity of seeking approval from other potters.
Self-doubt and existential crisis - “I am not even an artist”.
Sacrificing the romantic version of pottery for making money could be considered blasphemous.
However, this idea should not be confused with the idea of making a living in the 21st century as a potter. This is where the disconnect lies. Yes, it indeed takes years of dedicated practice to achieve that philosophical depth in your work, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot produce a completely well-designed and functional mug or a beautiful-looking vase right now. The depth that you seek in your work will happen over time.
There has to be a serious revision in the approach to pottery in the 21st century.
21st century problems require 21st century solutions
You don’t have to be a pottery purist. It is okay to support yourself through other means to pay the bills and pursue pottery. There will be a tipping point where you could do it full-time. The meaning that is derived from making pots and the economic reality of running a studio are not mutually exclusive.
The learning resources and reading materials are much more readily available as compared to 20 years ago. This enables people to have a head start on their careers as potters.
No one style is unique to this era. Just like how this era cannot be defined by one genre of music, the same is true for pottery. You have people who make pottery that looks like a piece of cardboard and are successful on one end, and you have people who make brightly colored mugs and plates on the other end.
This era is defined by decentralized/personalized taste. What we like and what we don’t like is as much our intuition as it is a learned habit. The variance in taste is huge, and you should be able to carve out your niche. The world is your oyster.
There must be some sort of conviction in you with the idea that you are exploring and are open to sharing it with the world. If they like it, they like it. If they don’t, they don’t. Sometimes you won’t like your work, but others will. This is the nature of the work.
Once you are smitten by clay and want to pursue pottery in some fashion, you may want to think long-term and approach it strategically. Even though you may want to update your approach to pottery, the economic and physical struggles cannot be overlooked. So, how do we make it work?
In the next part, we will look at some questions you have to ask before starting your business. I call it “The Reality Check” questionnaire. Subscribe now to get it delivered to your inbox next Saturday!
Further reading: Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin, The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker, The Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, A Potter’s Book by Bernard Leach, and The Beauty of Everyday Things by Soetsu Yanagi.