TCR: How did you first
become interested in making pottery?
DD: I actually started at age 16. My high school had a complete pottery
facility, including 23 pottery wheels and a gas kiln, plus a teacher who
made us learn the technical side of creating pottery. He even got us thinking
about the business side of it by having a studio sale at the end of the year.
As early as my senior year in high school, I was consigning my work to local
galleries.
TCR: How have you pursued your career?
DD: After high school I went to Portland State to study ceramics,
but they were teaching us about fine art, and I really didn't want that.
I wanted to make and sell pottery. The curriculum just didn't have what I
needed. At that point, I was still consigning to local galleries, and doing
some local art fairs. I met a few other artists (not all potters) who were
going to New Zealand. I left college and went with them. I wound up staying
for five years. Pottery is really well received there. In fact, it's where
I began wholesaling.
But, after five years I was ready to come home.
I left all my equipment and even my car there. I came back to Portland
and got a "real job" in
an office for a while, until I found a job throwing on the wheel for an oil
lamp maker. Eventually, I leased space from my employer and created my own
studio. After about three years of selling my work at the Saturday markets
in Portland, I started approaching kitchen shops and galleries to wholesale
my work.
I also started working with sales reps who would go to various shows and
market my work to shops around the country. I did really well with them,
but after eight years, it began to get overwhelming and I started thinking
I'd rather sell retail again. I started doing shows, and eventually I was
making more money that way, so I gradually backed out of wholesale. I learned
that people wanted to buy directly from me. That's when I opened my first
retail shop, selling my own work. We moved a few times before settling at
our current location. My home, shop and studio are all on the same property.
My husband and daughter-in-law work with me now, so it's really a family
business.
TCR: Who are the customers for your work? What is your strategy for reaching
them?
DD:I have a following of people who like
traditional pottery styles, as I do. People go out of their way to buy
pottery from me. We've also developed
a mailing list with about 5,000 names on it. We send mailings a few times
a year to our customers, which get a pretty good response. We have two "seconds
sales" every year, a Christmas Open House, and we send an anniversary
newsletter out about every three years. It's been working really well for
us. I still do about six shows every year, and I've held on to some wholesale
accounts, too. Our Web site at www.clayrabbit.com has
brought us business, also.
TCR: Have there been major
turning points in your career?
DD: There have been many. I guess every time I've moved has been
a turning point, a major change that furthered my career in some way from
high school to college, from college to New Zealand, then back home again.
Every time we've moved within Portland has represented change and growth,
too.
TCR: What has been the most difficult thing
you have encountered in your work?
DD: The hardest thing I encountered was trying to balance my wholesale
and retail business. I tried to keep my business small, and to keep my hands
in everything, but that became really difficult to do. I knew I wanted to
go further into retailing, but it was a hard decision to move away from wholesaling.
It's also difficult to figure out the economy and how it will affect our
business. That's constantly evolving.
TCR: What, in terms of business insight,
have you learned to do or not to do over the years?
DD: I've learned not to count on one income source too much, to have a
good mix of sales venues. We still do craft fairs, a little wholesale and
run our retail business. I've also learned it's important to have a good
mailing list, and to make pieces that customers will want to collect. I also
learned, a long time ago, to make things that I would want to buy for myself.
TCR: How has the Internet
affected your business?
DD: We've seen Internet sales increase over the last few years. I
see selling on the Web as my first step toward retirement, which at this
point is probably 10 or 15 years away. But I figure that if I can build it
to the point where it brings in enough income, it might be enough to sustain
us through retirement.
TCR: What is the next step for you?
DD: We're always
trying to change and grow. Lately, we've been selling a lot of handmade sinks
and tiles. So we're seeing growth in the home remodeling
market. I'm interested right now in possibly advertising in publications
geared toward that market.
