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Amy Hamley | Episode 282
Amy Hamley is a ceramicist living and working in Berkeley, California. Her work draws inspiration from her travels and daily hikes around the Bay Area. She lives with her husband, Ryan, and her shih tzu, Perro.
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How do you stay inspired when you have a product line that you have to produce again and again?
The way I stay inspired right now is to go outside and ride my bike. Just being outside, and I don’t mean to sound boastful when I say this, but I live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country and I feel really, really lucky that we were able to move here, so I try my hardest to go outside and see it everyday. Whether I ride my bike around the bay or going over into Marin County it is extremely beautiful. There is plenty of inspiration to be found in the world, you just have to open your eyes and look at it. It is what I have finally discovered at 37 years old.
How do you weigh out your choices between saying a “yes” and a “no”?
Now I just weigh them out on whether or not I have time. It’s a pretty black and white thing for me these days. If I have the time and it’s an interesting project I will do it. If I don’t have the time I just don’t. It’s a nice position to be in where I don’t have to say yes to everything anymore. I realize that is not a possibility for everyone to turn down work.
How are you building your marketing right now?
That’s really tough because I have been a really wholesale based business. I think if there is one thing that I do this year, and I would love some feedback on this, to anyone listening, is I really don’t know the answer to that. I do not know how to make that transition completely, because wholesale has definitely been the bread and butter of my business since 2010. So I am going to maintain the wholesale accounts that I am working with, but in terms of driving people to my retail sites and just buying directly from me, I think that’s everyone’s battle that wholesales their work.
Do you have your website on the bottom of your work when you are selling wholesale?
No, I don’t put my website on there. That was something I thought a lot about whenever I stamped the bottom of my plates for Anthropologie. I did put my logo and Berkeley, California on them. As a consumer, I wouldn’t necessarily want a t-shirt or mug or something that I really admired, and wanted to spend a nice chunk of money on it, I don’t know that I would want a website on it. So I left it off there just for aesthetic reasons.
What is the perfect date for you and your husband?
We love going to see live music. So for us it would be going to see a band that we both really enjoy and having a drink or two afterward. Or we go on a hike around town a lot during the day.
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Instagram: @redravenstudios