All Fired Up is our Store’s month-to-month handmade ceramics drop, curated by Food52 and sourced from small and native makers. This month, we’re highlighting the work of Oregon-based artist Petra Kaiser.
For most individuals, stumbling throughout a pottery wheel on Craigslist would possibly warrant a click on—possibly even a little bit daydream. However $300? That’s in all probability a rip-off, proper? For ceramicists, although, that’s an insane deal. You’ve acquired about ten minutes to resolve.
For Petra Kaiser, it was a profession transfer.
On the time, she wasn’t a full-time artist. The wheel was an “impulse purchase,” she says. However practically a decade, a number of odd jobs, and tons of of items later, she runs Sandbox Ceramics out of her house studio in St. Helens, Oregon—with that exact same wheel nonetheless in rotation. (The kiln got here later.)
After I join with Petra, she’s in her basement studio, although I don’t notice it at first. The area is so ethereal and brilliant—like lots of her items—that it takes me a minute to even clock that it’s a decrease degree. Daylight filters in by means of added home windows, casting comfortable shadows on completed mugs and bowls ready for glaze. That is the place she mixes her signature glazes (many, she says, made accidentally), lights a candle, places on a podcast, and will get to work. Typically her three-year-old daughter tags alongside—she’s previous the age of consuming clay now.
Petra is humorous, heat, and genuinely sharp in terms of working a enterprise—she’s refreshingly trustworthy about what sells. She additionally clearly is aware of far more about ceramics than she lets on in dialog. I think she dials it again for individuals like me, who aren’t precisely fluent in glaze chemistry.
The trail that acquired her right here makes excellent sense: she dropped out of school, jumped into any inventive job she might discover, and requested for extra internships than anybody I’ve met. Occasion planners, florists, photographers—you title it, Petra in all probability emailed them.
Even the title Sandbox Ceramics got here from a type of sensible moments. “I made a web site,” she informed me. “And I used to be like, I suppose I’ve to name myself one thing.” She picked a reputation that felt like childhood. “Like taking part in in a sandbox,” she stated. “That’s the way it was born.”
Now, Petra runs a one-woman studio making playful, useful work—and by some means nonetheless managing to sneak in a couple of collaborations, a customized colour or two, and a few high quality time on the wheel together with her daughter perched beside her.
Most just lately, she teamed up with us on an unique All Fired Up assortment that’ll make you wish to improve your kitchen go-tos—from an olive oil cruet to a butter dish value leaving out.
We caught up with Petra to be taught extra about her profession journey and the way she designed this assortment. Solutions have been edited for size and readability.
How did you first get into ceramics—and do you keep in mind why you have been drawn to it?
My grandma was really a potter, so I used to be round clay as a child. She did principally non-functional, actually whimsical stuff. However I didn’t get into it myself till about ten years in the past—I took a category at a local people faculty, and I beloved it the second I sat on the wheel.
As soon as the category ended, I enrolled at a neighborhood studio in Portland. However the identical week, I discovered a wheel on Craigslist—the one I nonetheless use—and I purchased it impulsively. After that, I simply began watching YouTube movies. I don’t assume I ever went again to take extra lessons—I form of simply went from there.
Was there a second when it began to shift from a pastime right into a profession?
Actually, that was the purpose from the start. I used to be in my early 20s and form of frantic—I knew I wished to work with my fingers and that I beloved making issues. So when I discovered ceramics, it simply clicked. I used to be like, I fucking love this, and I went for it.
Despite the fact that I had no enterprise doing it but, I began emailing potters in Portland to see in the event that they wanted assist or have been providing internships. In some way, I acquired employed at Notary Ceramics when she was nonetheless figuring out of her personal basement. That’s the place I realized a ton—particularly concerning the enterprise aspect. I labored there for 3 years earlier than quitting to do that full-time from house.
How did you discover the boldness to chilly electronic mail like that?
I feel there have been fewer potters in Portland again then. However truthfully, I’ve by no means been afraid to listen to “no.” I’m timid in a number of methods, however in terms of asking for alternatives? I simply go for it. I used to be like, Will anyone take me, please? And by some means Sarah employed me. I feel I used to be simply the primary particular person she talked to. Nevertheless it labored out!
Let’s speak concerning the All Fired Up assortment. Do you know what you wished to make immediately?
They informed me the vibe was going to be darker and moodier—which is de facto totally different from my regular brilliant and playful stuff. However I used to be excited. I wished to problem myself and make one thing extra elevated and timeless.
And I used a particular glaze that I by no means get to make use of. It’s actually fairly.
Picture by Armando Rafael
How did you give you the glaze?
It was a contented accident. Since I’m not nice at making glazes, I’ve a base I at all times begin with after which add colorants to. That one simply labored and by chance, I took sufficient notes that I can remake it.
Picture by Armando Rafael
Earlier than ceramics, did you think about going into a special area?
I attempted a number of issues. I waited tables, labored in occasion planning for 2 florists, and even did picture styling for a graphic designer. However nothing felt proper.
I’ve at all times wished to like my job. I dropped out of college as a result of I didn’t know what I wished to do—however I knew I wasn’t going to determine it out in a classroom.
If you lastly went full-time with ceramics, have been you nervous?
Positively. I used to be principally nervous as a result of I had simply give up ready tables. This was 2019—after which COVID hit. I used to be freaking out. However weirdly, it labored out. Everybody was at house, on their telephones, shopping for stuff and fascinating with Instagram. In some way, the timing ended up being good.
What ceramics are you eyeing for the summer season?
