We recently connected with Robin Bryant and have shared our conversation below.

Robin , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

Over the past several years, and especially since Covid, there seems to be a renewed interest in handmade items and in supporting locally-owned businesses. While my community has always supported the local artists, after Covid, interest and attendance at our local artist studio tours increased. At the first in-person artist studio tours after our area began opening up again, local community members flocked to our studios and they engaged and lingered more, as they were starving for personal connections as much as we, the artists, who typically work alone in our respective work spaces, were.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have always been someone who likes to work with their hands, whether it be cooking, gardening, sewing, or knitting. In my late teens, I watched a demonstration of someone throwing pots on a potter’s wheel and I was intrigued by this and thought that would be fun to try. I signed up for a class and when it was my turn to try throwing a pot on a wheel, I immediately realized just how hard it is! It is not a simple as it looks! My one and only pot that I made on the wheel during that six-week class was 1″ x 2″ after it came out of the kiln. I was so proud of the little piece! Then, it became a challenge.

After many years of attending classes and workshops to hone my skill, I have developed a level of skill that I can now execute most of what I attempt to make. In the medium of clay, as may apply to other craft mediums, the ability to learn, grow and develop this skill is endless. I have been making pots for over 40 years and there is always something new to learn and try. For 20 years, I made my pieces out of porcelain clay, as that was another goal I set to master. Porcelain can be very persnickety to work with and there is a lot of loss due to warping and cracking that sometimes cannot be controlled. These pieces were strictly functional – coffee cups, bowls, teapots, casseroles. I became bored with that and felt that I wasn’t really challenging my creative outlet as I was just making the same thing over and over in order to have enough inventory to cover my sale events. I decided to change the focus of the pieces I would make and decided to combine two of the passions in m life – gardening and clay. I am now working with a brown stoneware clay and making garden-inspired pottery, such as planters, vases, and plant markers, that I build by hand. So, I changed everything from the clay and glazes to how I construct my pieces. It enabled me to slow down and think about the pieces I am making and how they would be used, rather than churn out functional pieces that I know sell. Since this work is so very different than what my customers had come to expect from me, there has been a bit of an adjustment. I have lost some of my old customers, but I have also attracted new customers. Working with a new clay and new designs have re-invigorated my love of this medium and it continues to excite me about what could be next.

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

I participate in local art studio tours in my community and invite the public into my studio to see my work. As a potter, I mostly make functional items. So, in my studio I have shelves full of coffee cups, bowls, teapots, casseroles, and the like. One day, a woman came in and very carefully looked back and forth across my shelves and started at my pieces for a long time. She then looked at me and asked me, “what are these things for?” This question startled me because, to me, it was obvious…coffee cups, bowls, and so on…. I carefully responded to her, without attitude or surprise and simply explained, as I picked up a piece. I asked, “do you drink coffee or tea?” as I was holding a coffee cup. I picked up a bowl and said, “this can be used for soup, cereal, salad.” I did this with a few pieces. She nodded, thoughtfully, and continued to look across my shelves of functional ceramic pieces. In the end, she did end up buying a couple of pieces. Later I had the thought that if I had treated her as if she was joking with me or clearly didn’t see what, to me, was so obvious, I would have easily offended her. She thanked me for the information, my time, and she seemed really excited to have a handmade piece of pottery that she can use in her daily life.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I have worked hard to put out high quality-made items. I have worked in my medium for over 40 years and I only put pieces that are of the highest quality. At any time that a customer is not happy with a piece, I will accommodate their requests whether it be a replacement piece or a refund. I am also honest with customers and if they make a special request for something that I cannot accommodate, I will refer them to another artist that I know can meet their needs. Also, I consistently participate in markets in my community

Contact Info:

• Website: robinbryantpottery.com

Image Credits
Robin Bryant