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Hannah Bould | Episode 501
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What is the standard cut that most wholesalers are asking you to do with you?
It is generally fifty-fifty. That seems to be my experience of it.
When you are taking your wholesale orders do you have minimum orders that you require?
I don’t. Is this supposed to be a short answer? Because I might go rambling on. (laughter) I don’t have a minimum order. I really welcome small orders. I mean the smaller they are the easier they are for me because I find myself doing big orders and I am only in a small studio. If somebody wants a small amount of stuff I am really quite happy to do it. And I am really happy when they want me to choose a variety of different styles. My perfect order is when they say do what you want, that makes me very, very happy.
Do you have a line sheet that people order from?
I have a very basic Word document which has my prices on it and people generally direct me to the photos that they like that they have seen from my website or my Instagram.
You are still making individual pieces and not mass production, is that accurate?
Yes, in the sense that everything is hand-thrown by me and everything is individually decorated by me, yes.
Do you think that is the appeal and why the boutiques and shops are ordering from you is because everything is individually handmade and one of a kind?
I would say yes. That is definitely people’s interest in my work. People like to have everything slightly, minutely different and seeing the handmade element of it. That has been my experience anyway. People like to pick and choose their favorite one.
Do you ever do commission work?
Yes, definitely I do that. As much as I possibly can, yes. However it fits into my schedule. I like doing commission work, especially if someone gives the reins to me and says, I want six mugs and you can just go off and do whatever you want. It’s brilliant. It is definitely a lot of work basically, working seven days a week. Long hours, but I think that is the experience of most potters.
Do you ever turn down work?
Yes, I have. I would only say yes to something that I wanted to do. I wouldn’t do something just for the sake of getting an order. I try to favor the things I want to do rather than the things I am less keen on wanting to do. But I find that most people are very happy to have a conversation and then go with what I feel is best. So I have not had to make work I am not proud of or that I am not interested in.
How long did it take before you studio was fully put together and functioning in order that start making orders?
Well I was doing small orders right from the beginning but that as in a very sort of make-shift way. I think fully functioning studio, probably within a year or so. It was a gradual thing. Getting the wheel, getting the kiln, over the years I have been building more shelving units and adding more stuff. I have 2 kilns now. So it is kind of constantly evolving.
When did you know it was time to quit your other job?
When I literally did not have enough time to do the orders that I was being asked to do and that I wanted to do. I again, the place where I worked was so accommodating, I gradually quit days of the week until I was just doing one day a week at the print studio. It was a very, very gradual thing. I was doing nannying work as well and that kind of gradually ended. It was a gradual thing and never had to be one final decision which I think I would have found a bit scary if I had to have had a massive push.
You are quite a busy person. How do you balance ceramics and friends and family? How do you have a balanced life as a potter?
Not that well. I definitely work too much. This last year I made a conscious decision to make more time for the rest of my life. But it is hard, isn’t it? with pottery, you are at the mercy of things drying and things cooling down, and if you have orders to fulfill you are doing it a lot. But I am lucky that I love doing it so that is not too much of a hardship. But it is definitely more of a conscious effort to do other things, but I do try.
Book
A Potter in Japan by Bernard Leach
Contact:
Instagram: @hannahbould