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Mia Moss | Episode 586
Mia Moss is a potter born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After moving to Berlin in 2014, Mia decided to commit to pottery as her career. In 2017, Mia opened a small community space, to give classes and bring in other potters. In 2019, Mia moved again to an even bigger space.
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What were the foundation steps you took to build this identity from scratch?
You know, I have to give credit where credit is due, a lot of the studio is based on what I saw at the Midwest Clay Project. So I saw what worked there. I mean that is really what brought me into clay to begin with and why I kind of fell in love with it is I feel like there is something inherent to a pottery studio, like when you open the doors and invite people in that is inherently about community. So I feel like I didn’t have to try that hard because in a pottery studio you have to buy all this expensive equipment, you have to fire together if you are not producing massive amounts of work. Today we had one a half tons of clay being delivered, it makes sense to do all these things together.
At what point did you start getting the idea of “buy in”? From allowing people to go from being a class participant to buying into the membership?
So membership as we have now really just existed since February. Since we moved to the new space. Before that I had things that were called Clay Dates. You would simple sign up and every Monday evening you would come and use the space. And I had people on the wheel and people on the hand building table and they would just come in on Monday. They would still pay monthly and they could come in from 6-10 pm on Mondays. The reason I did that was I was sharing a space with other people so I couldn’t have people coming in all the time.
Was that price point different from what you have now?
Yeah, absolutely. Of course. Because they could only come in once a week. We have everything from people coming in every two weeks to every other day. We have two membership options. You can become a monthly member or you can have a punch card for people who are coming in more rarely.
Where did the idea of a punch card come from?
I had seen a lot of other studios use it. I have done a lot of research on other pottery studios and how they function because I really just had these two examples. I did a lot of research online and stalking other pottery studios websites trying to figure out their systems. The punch card system works well for our studio because there are lots of people that want to come in once a week and maybe 120 is a little too steep for people who want to come in once a week so I wanted to offer something else.
How did you get the marketing going? What was your way of getting the word out that your studio was starting and that there were classes available?
Social media. I am of the generation, I do a lot of everything on Instagram and Facebook. So that is how I marketed it. And also just growing slowly was extremely helpful because already when I wanted to move to the current space I already had people coming to the studio and they would tell their friends. But also, I didn’t have to work that hard. I do advertise on Instagram and Facebook but there really is just that demand for pottery right now in Berlin.
Do you give any incentives to your current members for bringing in new members? Do they get a discount?
No. No because it is all the same amount of work for me.
How do you give your community a sense of identity within the group?
Now you are making me think I should be doing more. I don’t know, I feel like it just kind of happens naturally. For example this weekend, we are having a big holiday sale, and we are transforming the studio into a pop up shop. I take a bunch of photos and flyers and stuff and all their work is included. It is a big cluster of pottery and everyone is included.
How do you deal with feedback from the studio members?
I listen to them and I think about it if it would make sense for me. There is a certain level of distance however, because the members don’t see a lot of how things are happening behind the scenes. For me it is really important that things are as simple and effortless as possible because I am just running this thing alone. I do have an employee and I have people that help me teach but it is just me at the end of the day and it is a lot of work already. People are really nice and they give me suggestions but no one is really demanding.
How do you keep your tools safe from disappearing?
I don’t! Yeah, I have them in a separate area of course, but they get mixed in and I will just lose a tool for a week or two and eventually it will appear again. It’s never happened to me that I have completely lost a tool. Maybe if I have an experience like that and my tools actually disappear then I will change. Some people write their names on their tools. I have two tools from Mud Tools that are common in the US but they don’t have them here. I love these tools so they better not disappear.
Which ones are they?
Two ribs. One is a sponge rib and one is that dark blue rib.
Book
How to be a Craftivist by Sarah Corbett
Contact
Instagram: @mosskeramik