I started because I wanted things made for specific purposes. A cup sized right for espresso. A bowl with enough depth for ramen. A plate that actually has a rim. Things I looked for and couldn't find exactly.
Pottery seemed like the answer. Control every variable, get exactly what you imagined. What I didn't account for was how many variables there are — and how few of them you actually control when you show up once a week to a shared studio.
The clay, the humidity, the glazes, the kiln. All of it shifts. For a while I tried to compensate. Eventually I made peace with it, and somewhere in that process I realized I prefer it this way. The pieces look related — same sensibility, same hands — but each one came out slightly different. Not a flaw. Just how it went.
You couldn't order the same cup twice. Neither could I make it.
Every piece has my name scratched into the base. It took me seven years to put any of them up for sale.