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Chad Nelson | Episode 510
Since graduating from Auburn University with a BFA in 2007, Chad Nelson has been making and selling pottery. The main goal of Chad’s work is to help people smile a little bit more every day through the use of his functional stoneware.
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Your work is so playful and fun. Do you ever feel like you are not being taken seriously because they are not serious pots?
Actually I kind of got over that when I left college. I was in galleries and I felt like I was producing pretty good work, in my opinion, it was the best work that I had done. And it wasn’t getting taken seriously at all. I was over it, you know, like people try to put labels on every thing. Are you a potter or are you artist? Or are you a handi-crafter? I am kind of over all the labeling stuff. I just do what I do and if people like it they buy it if they don’t they don’t have to buy it.
How do you choose the shows that you want to be a part of?
Actually these days I have kind of throttled back on the shows. Now I choose which shows I don’t want to go back to. It has just gotten to the point where it is well over a part time thing. I am working week-ends most of the time, just to get stuff done. In the beginning we tried a lot of art-type shows and we don’t do as well at art-type shows. That is not really what I am offering. I am not offering large sculptural pieces. I mean I have made some larger vessels but honestly they really don’t sell as well as a functional mug. So we do better at home shows and that kind of thing.
Have you figured out where your best place to sell is?
That has shifted last year with social media. I honestly haven’t had the chance to look at the numbers. We will look at it with the taxes this year. We do best in the home goods, like hand-made home goods stores. Those tend to do best. Stores that offer things for the home but also art. Those kind of places are our best sellers for sure.
Have you figured out how many mugs you have to sell a month in order to survive?
Not really per month, I don’t really think of it that way. We have always made our money at the end of the year. So certain times of the year it will be a little drier. I figured out how many cups I need to make to last through the year. I know how many I need to make per week to get through the year. And that number is about 120 every week.
If you make all your money at the end of the year, how important is budgeting for the rest of the year?
We don’t live a glamorous lifestyle. We have always had enough though. Somehow someway, we have always managed to make it. We are pretty careful, I have driven the same truck since I was 18, for example. I do less than 3000 miles a year, but it is things like that. I could probably afford to get a different truck, but we don’t do stuff like that because I make pottery for a living.
If you could do anything else, would you do it?
Not at this point. I am still really enjoying it. ANd the thing about this is, it is kind of re-inventing itself every now and then. For example, we did the classes to begin with, we have moved over to more sales, we have done heavier show years, we have done heavier shop years, we have had slower years where I don’t travel as much. Last year we started social media which was very new and adventurous and fun. You can always take it in a little bit different direction and change things up.
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Instagram: @ugchugs