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Esther Drone | Episode 1247
Esther Drone is a potter and ceramic artist based in Langford on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Esther has facilitated a variety of groups as a pottery instructor. Esther’s work is predominately functional and is currently available in a variety of shops in the Greater Victoria area.
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Esther, I asked you on the podcast about wholesaling, that you are a little bit of fulfilling a niche for the tourist community, but also you are a wholesaler on an island. Does that make it easier for you to be wholesaling when you know that bringing it in from the mainland is more difficult than it is for you to be the provider out on the island.
Oh, interesting question. I don’t think it does, because I know one of the places that only buys my work now, prior to that, they were just buying work from people on some of the other islands. So, Yeah, I don’t think that gives me an advantage because yeah, some of the in one of the other places I deal with, Side Street Studio in Oak Bay, they carry like a lot of different potters and they’re from all over the place. So like, yeah, I think I don’t I think honest, quite honestly, I think the advantage that I’ve built up over time, I have a lot of local customers. And there are, you know, the tourists and whatever. But still, I think what it is, basically, my work has kind of got its own look, its own style. It’s really based on being functional. Like, I’ve been set up at a Christmas show with maybe three or four with three or four other potters there and, and, you know, had somebody come around and they had looked at everybody’s booth and they came back to mine and said, yours is the most functional work. Unfortunately, that person also went and told that to the other potters, which did not make me very liked by the end of the show.
Do you feel like, wholesaling chose you or that you chose wholesaling?
It was it was very intentional. A year ago I had I had to have heart surgery. So it was I really it was time to slow down. And, you know, prior to that, I be working equivalent to two plus full time jobs. So it’s like it was time to cut back, cut back, cut back. And this this is like so much less stress just to be in my studio working away and and doing that and doing the wholesaling a lot less stressful.
As a production potter, so to speak, and wholesaling. What systems do you have in place in your studio to make things run smoothly?
Basically, I have basically just just the workflow pattern that I have, you know, where the clay is, where you start out, where you wedge, come around, like I just have a good flow, you know, and basically, it’s kind of like My husband used to be in the renovation business. So you had, I was on your sites, you had a flow of how you went out, you put all your tools and all your stuff and how you worked your way back out the door. So that’s kind of like the flow in my studios. Like, the clay comes in one door, then it moves to the next station, the next station, go into the kiln room, back out it goes, and then out the front door into the car and off it goes. So just a good flow.
What’s a big mistake you see younger potters or new potters make when it comes to pricing?
Oh, okay. I can’t say they make, if they can get the prices they’re asking for, that’s wonderful. My prices are, you know, what I have most people at shows go, oh, your prices are so reasonable. Basically, they’re saying your prices are cheaper than the other potter over there. Yeah, I just, you know, because I started so long ago and mugs were, you know, X price and I have tried to up them along with everybody else, but I just, I just can’t do what people are asking right now. It just kills me every time I have to go to the next level up. But you know, if those potters can get those prices, you know, that’s, you know, that’s great. But my other thing is I’d rather sell a lot and keep everything moving. I don’t ever have to put anything on sale or just keep everything moving and flowing out the door. So it, you know, really just depends on, you know, what you’re what your business model is, what you’re going for?
Now that you’ve moved into wholesaling and you take all the things into consideration, which is more profitable for you now?
Oh, it’s very similar. It’s similar. It can be similar, but it’s a different amount of work at different things. So, you know, like with the 20, 20 plus shows a year, there’s a lot more traveling, a lot less making stuff. Might make more per show. But some shows, really, you’re walking away after all the costs, you’re only walking away with wholesale, depending, you know. Other shows could be really good, but yeah, so– Interesting. Yeah, it’s just the amount of stress and whatever. So, you know, I know I can, you know, like, you know, in the new year, I’m gonna, I have a little pricing sheet. I do everything by size, get out my rulers and I price everything by size. And then I’m going to, change, slowly. I look at how much my materials costs have increased and I’ll slowly increase the prices of my pieces. But yeah, I would be bringing in more dollars, but I’ll also have a lot more dollars going out the door if I was sticking more to retail. Interesting. So the bottom line, I don’t think would be a lot different.
You’ve been making for shows and for wholesale, and you said that you’ve got your mainstays, and I’m curious, do you ever feel like you run out of creativity?
No, no, there’s just always something, a new thing you can play with, a new glaze combination. You know, like I do, I’m still teaching a bit, I cut back on teaching, so yeah, you know, there’s a lot of interaction with people and seeing ideas they have, but no, there’s always more to do. There’s, you know, like you can always delve into something deeper. Hmm.
Book
Amazing Glaze Food Safe Recipes by Gabriel Kline and Bill Collins
Contact
Instagram: @estherdrone