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 may warrant a click on—possibly even a bit daydream. However $300? That’s most likely a rip-off, proper? For ceramicists, although, that’s an insane deal. You’ve acquired about ten minutes to determine.
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 almost a decade, a number of odd jobs, and a whole lot 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 house is so ethereal and shiny—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 delicate shadows on completed mugs and bowls ready for glaze. That is the place she mixes her signature glazes (many, she says, made by chance), 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 the case of operating 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 good sense: she dropped out of school, jumped into any artistic job she might discover, and requested for extra internships than anybody I’ve met. Occasion planners, florists, photographers—you title it, Petra most likely emailed them.
Even the title Sandbox Ceramics got here from a kind of sensible moments. “I made an internet site,” she informed me. “And I used to be like, I assume I’ve to name myself one thing.” She picked a reputation that felt like childhood. “Like taking part in in a sandbox,” she mentioned. “That’s the way it was born.”
Now, Petra runs a one-woman studio making playful, practical work—and in some way nonetheless managing to sneak in a number of collaborations, a customized coloration 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 price leaving out.
We caught up with Petra to study 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 had 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 cherished it the second I sat on the wheel.
As soon as the category ended, I enrolled at a group 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 suppose 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 passion right into a profession?
Truthfully, that was the aim from the start. I used to be in my early 20s and form of frantic—I knew I needed to work with my fingers and that I cherished 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 had been providing internships. By some means, 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 in regards to the enterprise aspect. I labored there for 3 years earlier than quitting to do that full-time from house.
How did you discover the arrogance to chilly electronic mail like that?
I believe 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 numerous methods, however in the case of asking for alternatives? I simply go for it. I used to be like, Will anyone take me, please? And in some way Sarah employed me. I believe I used to be simply the primary particular person she talked to. Nevertheless it labored out!
Let’s speak in regards to the All Fired Up assortment. Do you know what you needed to make immediately?
They informed me the vibe was going to be darker and moodier—which is de facto completely different from my ordinary shiny and playful stuff. However I used to be excited. I needed 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 provide you with the glaze?
It was a cheerful 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 fortunately, I took sufficient notes that I can remake it.
Picture by Armando Rafael
Earlier than ceramics, did you think about going into a distinct area?
I attempted numerous issues. I waited tables, labored in occasion planning for 2 florists, and even did photograph styling for a graphic designer. However nothing felt proper.
I’ve at all times needed to like my job. I dropped out of faculty as a result of I didn’t know what I needed to do—however I knew I wasn’t going to determine it out in a classroom.
Once you lastly went full-time with ceramics, had been you nervous?
Positively. I used to be principally nervous as a result of I had simply stop 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 interesting with Instagram. By some means, the timing ended up being good.
What ceramics are you eyeing for the summer season?
