We recently connected with Madi White and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Madi thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Naming a business can take so many shapes! Many ceramicists opt to name their business after themselves, but I wanted something distinct and separate from my person. The name popped into my head in 2023 as I considered my end of year rituals. Instead of setting a resolution, I’ve gotten into the practice of setting a word for the year- a touchstone if you will. For example, my word in 2024 was ‘Plant’, and I unknowingly started planting the seeds for Touchstone then, without even knowing it! I love that you can return to the same word over and over again throughout the year and notice it take on new meaning and depth with time.

In the same way, I found myself returning over and over to ceramics. We go through our day to day with so many touch points that we rarely notice. Whether it’s drawer handles, car keys, light switches or coffee cups, all those pieces act as physical touchstones in our lives. They can act as small, tactile experiences to bring us back to the current moment if we let them, especially in a world that pulls us further and further from our physical senses every day. I wanted to make those high-touch points worth returning to, similar to my word of the year, and thus- Touchstone was born.

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.

Of course! My name is Madi and I started the ceramics art + design business, Touchstone. Though beginning as an obsession with the tv show “The Great Pottery Throwdown”, my interest in ceramics actually first led me to a local studio here in Los Angeles for a Beginner’s Wheel Class. After throwing more wonky bowls than my cabinets could hold, a friend invited me to a Hand Building Class at her studio.

It was like angels began singing during that first session. My brain really took ahold of hand building in a way it never could on the wheel. Fast forward to the end of 2024, and I left my full-time job in HR with half a plan to start a ceramics small business. I started hearing friends mourning the lack of good options for simple items around their home that they often used or looked at, but were rarely designed with style in mind. How could there be no cute house numbers to choose from? Or switch plates? Tiles? Needless to say, I jumped in headfirst.

A lot of the ceramic pieces I design are centered on the ethos of “returning to”, hence the name Touchstone. House address numbers, hooks and cups are just a few of the items in my online shop, all with the intention to create small, tactile moments for the high-touch points of our lives.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

It makes some of us cringe on the inside, but I will say, doing some work for free can make a huge difference in your reach.

For example, I host tile workshops where participants can explore carving, mark-making and underglazing on their own clay tile. I planned to host a workshop at a local cafe in Frogtown back in April where each seat was set for ~$65, including the tile, supplies, two firings and a beverage from the cafe during the class. If there was 10 seats in the class, I wanted to guarantee I’d fill them all, so help me God. As the date drew nearer, I knew the only real way to get close to that guarantee would be stripping away the biggest barrier potential attendees had- the cost.

I decided to make the class free and let people buy their own coffees, and lo and behold, the workshop attracted more than double the turnout I initially expected. Maybe one or two of those people would have bought a ticket, but I met so many more who I never would have gotten the chance to connect with if the event wasn’t free. Some people may see it as a good way to lose money, but the investment in building relationships with people seems much more valuable than stashing sales this early in the journey for me. Only time will tell!

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

I do use Etsy right now, since Touchstone is still so small. The platform is a huge boost in reach to people who would never otherwise find my work, and I’ve found it’s better to go where the people are than wait for them to come and find you.

It has been a slow process getting it up and running though, since when you don’t have any sales or reviews to ensure credibility, you’re more or less waiting around for someone to take a chance on you. Etsy does some ads and assists with SEO in listings which can help, and once the ball is rolling it’s a great way to regularly have your work in front of people’s eyes. The hope is then when I make a sale we can include ways for this person to find our website and instagram- using Etsy as a springboard to build connections rather than a one-and-done exchange.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://touchstone-la.com
• Instagram: @touchstone.la
• Other: https://touchstonela.substack.com/

Image Credits

Jake Cuddemi