As I lightly touched on in my last entry, my identity as a potter is in the process of changing a bit. In the very near future my husband Matt and I will be opening up Tonique, a new boutique bottle shop here in Athens. On the surface this may sound like a random direction to be heading in but here is how we got here… Last spring, Matt sold his cocktail bar of 10 years and took some well deserved time off from being a small business owner. We took time for travel to see family & friends, I continued my potting, we dreamed and schemed and researched ideas. Combined, Matt and I have over 35 years of working in the service industry. It is actually how we met one another - slinging drinks behind the same bar together. Eventually he opened up his own bar in Athens and I wound up opening a clothing & accessories boutique in Philadelphia. Once I relocated to Athens to be with him full time, I went back to bartending for a while until I dove head first into the rabbit hole of ceramics. Things went swimmingly for both of us for many years until the struggle and unpredictability of the pandemic years forced us both to reevaluate life, work and the future. With our backgrounds in food and beverage, running a storefront and bar - the bottle shop concept made sense and felt right.

So in the Spring of this year we finally found a dream location, signed a lease and have been working on the build out ever since. Since late June I have been immersed in the studio working on a project that had me wondering if I had gotten in over my head. I had the idea to make tiles for the front facing of our counter. Originally the counter design had a pretty small footprint but after working with some interior design assistance we reimagined it to take up more of a central anchoring space, therefor becoming larger. I am now in the middle of a massive production of making seven hundred 4x4” tiles by hand in my 12x10’ studio space. 😭 Suffice to say, it has been quite a learning experience. I have only made tiles before for a small backsplash. Comparatively this counter job is A. Full. Scale. Production. Instead of going into full-on anxiety mode as I may have in the past, I am leaning into the challenges, the learning curve and the repetition of it all. Cutting out 700 square shapes does wonders to get you in the zone.

As of this writing, I’d say I am about half way through the tile project and hoping to have it complete in the next two weeks (kiln gods if you are listening, please let things go without a hitch!) so then during the month of September I can focus more on other details of getting the shop opened. In the meantime, Tile Challenge 2024 continues and I need all the space I can get so I am marking down all current inventory in my shop at 40% off until the end of September. Help me clear those shelves!!! Use the code CLEARANCE at checkout to get your discount.

As for what’s to come of me and time at the wheel? It will probably look something like smaller, less frequent shop updates. Maybe two a year? Maybe I will manage a small collection release in November or December for the holidays? I have no intention on giving up my studio or leaving it to collect dust. That space means too much to me to let it languish. Over the summer I started on a new collection of Fishing Village Mugs and hope to add to that over then next couple months once the tiles are complete. Right now it’s hard to say how much time I will have to get into the studio - so I’m doing my best to remain flexible and I guess we’ll see. I still have plans on stocking Tonique with drinkware and entertaining appropriate pieces. Think wine & whiskey cups, coaster sets, small plates for snacking and hors d'oeuvres. And if you are in Athens, I hope to see you there!

journal

tile making as a meditation practice