California Potters Tell Their Story | Cheryl Costantini & Mikio Matsumoto | Episode 733

Cheryl Costantini & Mikio Matsumoto | Episode 733

The works of Nichibei potters blends the elegant tradition of Japanese folk art with a contemporary flair resulting in an innovative collection of handmade pottery that is unmistakably Nichibei. Mikio Matsumoto worked as a commodities broker in Japan, but always had a keen interest in the arts. He became a potter after moving to California in 1985. Cheryl Costantini has had a life-long interest in pottery, culture and traditional artistic values. In 1978 she traveled to Japan to study pottery. Cheryl and Mikio formed Nichibei in 1985. Since then, the husband and wife team have shown their work at exhibitions in California, New York and Japan. Literally translated, Nichibei means “Japan and America.”

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Do you ever see a struggle between the two of you about your two different approaches? Cheryl, do you every say, Hurry up and make more pots? And Mikio are you saying, Slow down and make it better?

Cheryl: So that really is the million dollar question and I think that for both of us, I will go back to the phrase, Life is for learning. I have struggled because I was taught to be not only quick but really good, really precise. And I can do it. But I have to choose to do it. And walking in the studio in the morning saying, Okay is this going to be a day where I am going to sit down and do 80 mugs or is this going to be a day where I sit down in a day and do 30 beautiful, refined jars? And that’s each morning’s decision and I personally struggle with that but now that I am 63 years old it’s pretty much gotten to the point if not now, when? So for me, I am doing more of that.

Mikio can tell us about another point and that is what sells.

Yes, I am really curious about that. Tell us about what sells.

Mikio: Especially in the beginning when we started. My pieces tend to be more expensive than Cheryl’s because I take more time to finish each piece. But people come to see my piece because it is different and they end up buying Cheryl’s piece because it is more affordable. If that happens two or three times in a row I kind of get discouraged. You have to keep doing. If you keep doing, somebody is going to find you eventually.

Cheryl: We think long term. It has been a business model that if we get them in the door with one thing eventually they will all come around.

Do you two see you as individual potters that are working on one business?

Mikio: That is a good question. Both. We share a studio. We are together pretty much 24/7. I do my work. She does her work. But we share glaze, we fire in the same kiln, our business is one. That part makes us one.

Cheryl: I would agree. I think that we are more one and that is also taking after the Japanese tradition. You know in Japan they have a name of a pottery. There might be one teacher, one sensei there or the eldest, but it is one pottery and everything that comes out of that pottery is that pottery’s stamp. And that is why we named it Nichibei Potters. And the potters are plural, not only are there two of us but the option is open for apprentices. We have one now and we have had many over the years.

What does Nichibei mean?

Mikio: Japan. America. One character from Japan, one character from America put together.

Cheryl: The same way NorCal means Northern California.

How do you find your customers?

Cheryl: Started at the flea market and did craft fairs and somebody saw us at a craft fair and asked, Why aren’t you doing the American Craft Council shows? And I said, The what? And then she took us by the hand and told us how to get into the ACC shows through that. That opened up the whole sell market. We always believed it is important to get out and show our face and to be real and connect with people. So this is year number 36 of this business. Full time job the whole time. When Covid happened and our shows got cancelled we began to use an Etsy shop that a student had set up for us years ago that we had not used much. And the cool thing, Paul you are going to laugh at this…Up until this time I had always thought of us as going out into the world and saying, Oh please people. Would you like to buy our pots. What Covid taught me and Esty taught me was that it is actually really a two way street because we have a really big customer base here in California and a huge email list, we developed a huge snail mail list from the beginning. We really tried to cultivate customers. And I never once thought that they really wanted to also buy from us. It sounds kind of silly but we opened up that Etsy shop and sent out an email and it was like, Wow, all this whole thing exploded. And we felt so honored and humbled and it completely took off. We had 900 sales this past year.

Mikio, 900 sales. Where you surprised by that?

Yes, I was. But the thing is we have lots of old customers that are loyal to us and they want to support us. We lost a whole opportunity and they were great for us and supported us. It was amazing.

Which kind of sales do you like better? Online or in person?

Mikio: I like in person. You know, I like online but in person is more special to me. People can feel the energy. I can see their face that is why I like in person.

Cheryl: Yeah. Well said. I would really agree with that. It gives them a chance to hold the pots. It gives us an opportunity to build relationships and that is just so important. It is so important because people aren’t just buying the work but they are also buying a little piece of our heart and we offer that to them freely. So the thing we are going to be able to cut out is the wholesale and the online sales will replace them which is really great.