If you have followed The Find Store for a while, you will know about the transition from interior and lifestyle shop to pottery studio - but for those who are new to us, you may be wondering why we are called The Find Store. Read on to find out a little bit about our backstory. When I first opened the original business, the name made sense, it's where people can Find that perfect something for themselves, their home or a loved one; The Find Store - Makes sense right?
After the sh** show that was the 2020-2021, customers weren't visiting us the way they used to and buying habits changed drastically when we were finally allowed to open our doors again. I had to think quickly about how I could get customers to come back and visit us, so I decided on workshops. Ideas swirled around my head of the different kind of workshops that people might like to attend. We experimented and tried a few and after a while we decided to try out pottery painting. We did a call out for mobile pottery painting studios who may be interested holding some sessions at the shop, but none were forthcoming. So . . . during a road trip through Europe with my husband (as you do) we came up with a plan to offer pottery painting myself. But to do this I would need to make some changes in the shop, put some tables at the back of the shop so customers could shop and paint, buy a kiln, paints, pottery and everything else that comes with owning a pottery painting studio. Oh and did I mention that I had absolutely NO IDEA what I was doing - but I had to learn, and fast. This all took place in October 2022. By December 2022, demand was so big, I had no option than to convert the whole shop into a studio, but keeping a small part of the retail area at the back, after all that was my first baby. So a complete switch around. This all happened between the Christmas and the New Year of 2022. As I write this, I cannot believe it's a year since I bought the first kiln and added a couple of tables at the back of the shop for people to paint. This Christmas will be one year since we opened the doors as a full on proper studio, we have now upgraded to a much bigger kiln and have doubled our team.
Today, alongside pottery painting, we are proud to also run pottery courses where people can make their own pieces using the hand-building techniques. We take pride in making our studio an inclusive and friendly studio for beginners to intermediate makers. The pottery courses are loved by so many people, there's a real appetite for creativity, mindfulness and learning something new. Unbelievably we are pinching ourselves as we have somehow managed to get a waiting list for our courses. How cool is that?! And how crazy that all this has happened in a year!
We now find ourselves entering a new stage and due to customer demand (remember, we are always guided by you), we will be introducing pottery wheels at the end of this year. This means the new year timetable will look even more fantastic!
One day I will write about all the lessons I have learnt along the way as a pottery studio owner. There are so many things to consider - it's expensive, lots of mistakes happen, and some are completely out of your control. The clay, glaze and kilns are the heart of any pottery studio, but my goodness they can be unpredictable.
So even though I will always have fond memories of the early days of The Find Store, our shop front has had a rebrand to reflect our new business model and we are now called 'Pottery Studio at The Find Store', still remembering the beginning but also looking forward to the future.
