We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful David & Lisa Dault. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with David & Lisa below.

David & Lisa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Getting into pottery has been small steps of faith, adventure, and risk for us. Each step has had bit a risk, and our recent decision to go full time in pottery is definitely the largest risk of all.

We’ve been doing pottery for 9 years now, and each time we’ve stepped out on the ledge, we’ve learned a great deal and been emboldened to press on. Our first show (in Alabama) was a collection of pottery that we had thrown on a treadmill-converted-to-pottery-wheel wheel that David had improvised in the garage (because we couldn’t find OR afford a real pottery wheel). That show was our first small risk–how would we be received and would anything sell?
Thankfully the show was a great success for us. With the show proceeds, were able to buy a used pottery wheel and another kiln off Craigslist and continue to further our pottery journey.

Fast forward nine years and–even with five daughters and a mortgage–we have enough passion for pottery, small business, and family to try art full time. Lisa’s been making like crazy while being a homeschooling mother, and now David has joined her as a full-time partner to the business. We’re excited to see where this latest risk takes us and develop an at-home, art-based business that prioritizes family and balance.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

We first got into pottery because we love to create. Lisa was going crazy as a stay-at-home mom and needed a creative outlet. After knitting and sewing didn’t fulfill that need, we both wanted to try pottery. We found ourselves continually saying, “Someday wouldn’t it be great to have a pottery business?!” And after a while, we didn’t know why that “someday” couldn’t be now. That’s when we got some clay and started to play around with it.

Lisa had some experience with ceramics in college as a sculpture major, and David had done pottery in high school and loved it. We ordered some clay off Amazon (before Amazon was really even a thing, and because we couldn’t get it anywhere else…) and Lisa started sculpting. Very quickly we realized we wanted to get into function pottery that was thrown on a wheel. That’s when David made our first wheel out of an old treadmill and we were off to the races (kind of a pun intended there…).

Since that time, functional stoneware pieces have been our main focus. Mugs, bowls, plates, platters, and many other things. Our styles have evolved over time, including Lisa’s surface decorating techniques. From beautiful carving to underglaze transfers, she has the ability to craft beauty into each pieces.

We love to provide pottery that make drinks, meals, and life more enjoyable. We do custom work for companies that are looking for that not-so-run-of-the-mill team member or client gift. We sell online for people who want a spectacular mug that is fitting for the exceptional coffee or matcha that they want to put in it each morning.

In all of this, we’re guided by a phrase we’ve recently adopted: Crafting beauty, pursuing simplicity.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Yes! Our goal and mission is: crafting beauty, pursuing simplicity.

We want each of our pieces to evoke a sense of beauty and tell a story. We hope our pottery is excellent in terms of workmanship, and we we hope that it can delight anyone who uses it.

We also want to pursue simplicity. This doesn’t mean super simple pieces that lack texture and interest, rather it means that as a business team, we want our pottery business to be based in simplicity: an at-home, creative business that is the passion of a husband and wife team. We want to make a simple living as creatives that provides for our family and also gives us the opportunity to be as present as possible as we raise our daughters.

We hope this beauty and simplicity of purpose and vision comes through in each of our pieces and in all of our interactions with customers and is contagious and inspiring to them.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Lisa has done amazing on Instagram to document our journey and grow a following. Consistency is the name of the game. Treat it like a part-time job and do the work. Like flossing your teeth (which you might not want to do every day) you just have to be consistent. Her recipe for growing a following has been to post almost daily, interact with followers, and be willing to make a fool of yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.daultpottery.com
• Instagram: @daultpottery
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daultpottery/

Image Credits
All photos taken by David and Lisa Dault