We recently connected with Rebecca Prowse and have shared our conversation below.
Rebecca, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
After walking away from a 25 year career in corporate retail with the last decade+ as a regional merchandising director, I knew I wanted to be an artist but not specifically what that meant for me. While figuring it out, I tried a LOT of different things. I painted, made jewelry, learned from a goldsmith, sewed, tried my hand at website design, made bath and body care products…the common thread through all of that was in my downtime I was knitting and working on fiber projects.
I never imagined that knitting, working at a yarn shop and connecting with a yarn company to develop pattern books for hand knitters would lead me to becoming a potter. Pottery was not even on my radar but as the photo shoot for the pattern books was coming up, I reached out to a friend who is a ceramics professor and asked him to have a student make some buttons for these sweaters in the photo shoot.
He told me no.
“Come in and make the buttons yourself,” he said.
Little did either of us know that refusal and invitation would change my entire trajectory and lead me to pottery.
After a solid year of dinking around with little clay projects like buttons and jewelry – things I was incorporating into the other crafts I already made, he asked me if I wanted to carve some designs on his pots.
Holy mackerel that was awesome. I LOVED IT. An obsession was born. I dove head first into learning how to be a potter, the processes, the chemistry, the physics, the engineering, the design and marketing. With a strong design background it was a natural fit for me and scratched all the creative itches I had been trying to fulfill with the myriad of other crafts and art forms.
After another year of completely immersing myself in learning, I began to develop a product line, an aesthetic, a style, and ultimately a brand. I filled sketch books with notes and ideas. I made samples ranging from “Oh shit I’m going to look back on this and be horrified I thought it was good,” to “Ok. I could put my name on that.”
The entire time I was failing on an epic level and learning so much. For me, the concept to execution phase requires a lot of trying things on and discarding the things that don’t fit. Trying techniques and pushing materials to the breaking point so I know how far I can push it. Many of the projects made their way onto social media so I could gauge what other people thought and determine if there might be a market. I spent countless hours on Instagram and Pinterest and Etsy looking at what other potters were doing and making it a conscious point to develop a voice that wasn’t quite like anyone else’s I was finding.
After that year of testing I began doing art fairs. I made pots. Anything that struck my fancy. I tried out different design details, handles, forms, finishes, colors then took them to art fairs and set up my booth and watched people. I wanted to observe the look on someone’s face as they walked by on the street. Did they dismiss my work and keep trucking? Did they pause and grimace? There were a few of those. It’s good! That’s where I started to home in on who my customers are.
The people who walked into the booth and lit up, squealed with delight, exclaimed “OMG I NEED THIS!” That’s what I lived for. I asked questions. What do you like about it? What’s your kitchen like? What is your favorite decorating style? Is it modern? Minimalist? Farmhouse? Eclectic?
All these observations and questions led me to creating an intentionally designed product line that is well suited to a minimalist, modern or farmhouse aesthetic. It’s more than a coffee mug. It’s an aesthetic and it enhances how you interact with the morning (or all day long, if you’re like me) rituals surrounding coffee. There is something comforting about a favorite coffee mug. There is an extra little joy in putting your mundane quick meal in a beautiful bowl.
Once figuring out the what and the how I began building a studio of my own. My mentor wasn’t going to let me run my business out of his small studio, and rightfully so. I was producing far too much to share a 1 car garage with two other potters. We used our combined network to start finding good used equipment. Well. Mostly good. My first pottery wheel was dug out of a barn and had been purposely damaged to become a rock tumbler. I had to rebuilt part of it and fashioned a wheel head out of a round bar stool seat shimmed with cabinet shims to make it mostly level. I bought a used kiln from a university auction and got started.
As the business slowly grew I was able to hire a part time assistant to help with the tasks that kept me away from the things that keep me in the zone of genius. My assistant prepped clay, unloaded kilns, organized tools, cleaned the studio, gave me a heads up when the pots lined up all over the driveway were dry enough to start trimming.
I met my now husband, Chris, and a few months after we started dating he used his tax return to buy me a brand spanking new pottery wheel. We found another used kiln that I rebuilt and put into service. He started helping out after work packing orders so I could keep making pots.
We got married.
He requested a transfer to Indianapolis and we packed up home and studio and moved from a cozy lake cottage in the middle of northeast Indiana to the heart of the city and I found a studio space in an industrial building that was being turned into a micro manufacturing incubator. I hired a full time assistant. We landed a huge client through word of mouth and I developed a product line specific to her.
I hired 3 more assistants.
We moved to the other side of the building in a 3,500 square foot dedicated space and I started adding more kilns.
Here we are, 11 years from that first foray into clay and Gravesco now employs 10 amazing humans and we ship our handmade pots to nearly 1000 wholesale customers all over the world.
To some it looks like we were an overnight success but that is only because I wasn’t on their radar sooner. It was a decade long process of testing, marketing, social media, editing and growth. There wasn’t ever really a launch, so much as a very slow amble toward people finding out about my pottery.
Now that the business has grown from a 10×13′ cottage studio with kilns in a shed at the end of the driveway to a genuine small batch manufacturing studio I’m ready for the next step. This year’s goal is to find the projects we really love, that truly nourish us, and to find clients whose values align with mine so that we absolutely love going to work every day. We’ve grown from the “take any project that comes along” phase to the “I want clients that are a delight to work with and align with our designs and ideals” phase.
Our first retail store opened in August 2022 and I’m finally able to create a full aesthetic experience of what it feels like to live with our pottery. It’s an immersive experience in a space I’ve intentionally designed to delight the senses and encourage people to daydream what it would be like to intentionally choose items for their homes that light them up when they open the kitchen cupboard or unload the dishwasher.
Rebecca, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m most proud of the growth we’ve sustained and the partnerships we’ve created along the way. Four years ago we sold $57,000 worth of pottery which seemed like SUCH a big number to me at the time. One person making pottery with some part time help and a lot of used equipment? If I could sell that much pottery working like this, what would happen if I had everything I needed? What would happen with a team and better equipment and a space designed for this kind of creativity? In 2021 we crossed the $500,000 mark. It still blows my mind every day and I am deeply grateful for all the clients and customers who get what I’m making.
This year, 2022, brings about a whole new set of changes and challenges. We’re not working with that large client any more. In my decision to work on projects in better alignment, I realized that I am absolutely lit up by working on projects I’ve designed. I absolutely love designing a product line then following it through the process to execution and showing customers how beautiful these moments in their life can be when they have a connection with makers – even when it is something as humble as a simple bowl or coffee mug made with intention and care.
In the coming years, I’d love to connect with more brands and clients who love the pottery we make and understand how it can enhance their lives. We make mugs for coffee shops, dinnerware for chefs, decorative items for home decor stores, custom gift sets for company/brand gifts…the possibilities are unlimited but the common thread for enjoying what we do is that when we work with customers who love our designs, we love making pottery for them.
The way the team works in synergy now is that I design the pottery, develop the glazes (I never knew I loved chemistry until I started developing glazes!), and create the work flow and marketing. We have three amazing potters who work at the pottery wheel and one fabulous human who trims the bottoms and finishes every pot we make. There is a glaze team, slip casting team (that’s new for us this fall), co-designer who helps with product development and also all our branding and graphics and my husband Chris who left his career in Architecture to manage our shipping and fulfillment.
There is also an amazing team of contractors who help with things like marketing planning, seo, brand development, business coaching, budgeting and forecasting, my accountant, collaborators. It’s so much bigger than one woman working in a little studio alone with her cat where this all started.
The main thing I always hope I’m conveying to our followers and customers is that I care deeply about every detail. Each design choice is intentional and meant to enhance the function and enjoyment of our pottery. I want them to know they can also slow down and live a beautiful life. Sometimes it is as simple as taking ten minutes to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee with a special mug and a handmade snack bowl filled with something nourishing to munch on while you breathe and relax.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
In high school I began working in retail but that wasn’t really the beginning for me. My grandmother worked in retail when I was in grade school and I LOVED going to see her at the department store and take in all the visual elements, the experience, the changing styles and fashion. It fascinated me if I caught a glimpse of the visual team setting up a new display and how they were able to completely change a customer’s experience just by effectively arranging things. Eventually, as a regional merchandising director it was my job to control that customer experience in 31 stores across multiple states. That experience ingrained in me the importance of aesthetics and an immersive experience.
In junior high, Ralph Lauren landed on my radar. By high school I was straight up obsessed. Not so much with the clothes, though they were very popular at the time. I was fascinated by how much RL had changed the merchandising scene. How his marketing campaigns were about the lifestyle far more than about the clothing. The ad he ran that was a photo of a barn in a misty morning blew my mind. I wanted a Ralph Lauren cable knit sweater even more.
Now, as I develop my own brand I think back to watching the Ralph Lauren brand grow in popularity as I was growing up and how it continues to be relevant and continues to create an immersive experience for customers who just want to live with a piece of that aesthetic.
The documentary, Becoming Ralph, has helped me articulate to others my desire to be more than just a potter. I desire to impact people’s lives by providing the items that help them create a pleasant memory, moment or lifestyle.
It brings me joy to imagine someone padding out of the bedroom in the morning, opening a cupboard door in the kitchen and sitting one of my handmade mugs on the counter as they begin their daily ritual of making coffee. They reach into another cupboard, or maybe the dishwasher that is full of clean dishes, and pull out a small plate for their toast or a bowl for their cereal. They’re starting their morning in a beautiful way, connecting with the energy of the makers. It turns a mundane task into a ritual when you have a favorite mug, a favorite bowl, a plate that makes you smile. It sounds kind of weird that a plate can make you smile but people say to me regularly things like, “I just love having breakfast every morning with your mug and my favorite plate.” If you don’t use handmade pottery, do you even have a favorite plate?
The things we surround ourselves with and the things we use every day impact our energy and how we relate to the world around us. It is such an honor to be an integral part of that process.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Oh Holy pivot.
The month before the Covid-19 shut down occurred, we had made a batch of 100 mugs for a client. The height and width dimensions were reversed when the potter threw them on the wheel. Instead of tall and slender they were short and stout. They were great mugs! They just weren’t right for that particular order. I set them on a shelf with the intention that later, when things slowed down, I’d do something special with those mugs.
The night before Indianapolis shut down, I realized what was happening. I was watching my artist and musician friends posting on social media that they were about to lose everything. Shows were canceled. Opportunities were canceled. Their methods of making a living were being closed down. Their back up jobs in food service were closing, as well. It was clear to me that the arts community would need some help. There was scuttlebutt about providing unemployment for the self employed but we didn’t yet know what that means and for a whole industry of people who often live paycheck to paycheck in pursuit of their passions, I knew I had to do something.
At 2 am an idea landed.
I messaged my good friend, Jason Michael Thomas. He’s a chef, entertainer, and urban farmer. His mission is providing 100% local foods at his farm to table private dinners and encouraging and training people to grow their own food in urban environments. I knew his dinners would be canceled and he confirmed, the farmers markets were being canceled until we could figure out as a society what to do. He explained that farmers he knew were freaking out because they have all this food and nowhere to sell it. They can’t sell it to grocery stores because that requires different licensing.
We banded together.
I took those 100 mugs and applied a vintage plague doctor image as a cheeky nod to a serious situation. We dropped the price from our regular $44 to $25. I sent my team home to be safe. Chris and I hit the studio and started glazing and firing these 100 mugs to sell with $5 from each mug being used to purchase food boxes from Jason and his network of farmers and the balance to help cover the payroll for my team that couldn’t be in the studio with us. I called it Feed The Artists. We set up a google form allowing artists who needed a food box to apply online and when one was available they could pick it up or we would deliver.
Within a couple days we sold out of those first 100 mugs. Our potters started throwing mugs at home. Chris and I drove across town every day to load the back of his pickup with wet mug bodies and take them back to the studio where I finished them. He was busy packing from sunup to sundown. His day job had closed and so the two of us dug in and got to work.
A local coffee roaster had hundreds of orders from coffee shops canceled so rather than discard the beans they couldn’t sell, they packaged them up and gave us a truck load of coffee to include in the food boxes.
A local Kombucha company, Circle Kombucha, provided cans of their kombucha for the food boxes.
Edible Indy magazine caught wind and bought boxes.
Customers started sharing the project nationally and more orders rolled in.
People started asking if they could directly purchase food boxes so I helped Jason build a whole new website that included a Feed The Artists donation page.
Local news showed up and even more orders and assistance came in.
Over the course of the month we fed over 100 families in Indianapolis, kept our team on payroll without government assistance, kept food from the landfills, and enjoyed meeting so many humans willing to help each other out.
What could have been a complete disaster for the business turned into an amazing community effort developing friendships that continue.
If we hadn’t had that mess up with the mug measurements, I never would have had this idea. Living life trusting that every curve ball has a lesson in it has led to some of the most amazing projects and opportunities.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gravesco.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gravesco
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gravescopottery/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/gravesco
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/GravescoPottery
- Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/biz_info/uLANNWo6K31Yn6ihXfHPfA
- Other: Bulletin Wholesale for net 60 terms: https://bulletin.co/wholesale-retail/buyer?brandId=fb43d7c6-c256-4eca-a995-4f4fbac3dba7 Faire Wholesale for net 60 terms https://rebeccagravespotteryhomepage.faire.com Abound Wholesale for net 60 terms https://helloabound.com/invite/gravesco
Image Credits
Images: Emily Brown at Fluffy Rhino Photography https://www.fluffyrhinophoto.com Jennifer Beachy at Jennifer Beachy https://www.jenniferbeachy.com And myself :)