Handmade Art You Can Use Everyday
If you make art, eventually you’ll come across someone who won’t like your work. They might even hate it, hurl insults, and tell you why they’re right and you’re wrong. Always remember— trying to please everyone is a trap. Take criticism for what it is: a sign that your art is powerful, and that you’re not making art for critics, or for everyone. You’re making your art for your fans, and your love of the craft. Admit that this is enough, and ignore the rest.
(estimated reading time: 4-6 minutes)
For about 15 years, I’ve been making pottery full-time. First as a student, then by starting Cherrico Pottery. After handcrafting about 30,000 pieces of pottery, I can tell you from first hand experience that making pottery is really hard.
I’m a “production potter” which means I make pottery in repetition, in a variety of styles and colors, for people to eat and drink from. Each month, I handcraft about 500 pieces of pottery. Then, a team of employees sand, polish, pack and ship each pot to customers, for people to use and enjoy in their own homes.
It’s a good living, but that’s a lot of pottery to make by hand.
Repetitive work is tough. If you’re not careful, you can get overuse injuries:
For long-term sustainability, of both employees and me, I need to continually explore ways to reduce the strain on our bodies.
Two years ago, I began a research project. I tested having a version of my “Cosmic Mug” designed and made in a factory, by other workers. I created “Cosmic Mugs” to inspire us to think about how all human beings are connected, through the cosmos. So, why not use factories globally to create thousands, perhaps millions of mugs?
The goal was to get the price down to $19.95 for a pair, with free shipping, so anyone could afford Cherrico Pottery.
At first, China seemed like the perfect place to mass produce porcelain, a.k.a. “Fine China” because the Chinese have spent 2,000 years mastering the craft. With 1.4 billion people and hundreds of porcelain factories, they can make thousands of artistic mugs fast, cheap and with remarkably high quality.
After choosing a factory, I designed and bought roughly 1,000 mugs at about $10-$15 each. Most sold for about $26-$36 each.
That’s a pretty good start, considering over 800 sold and only 200 remain.
Next, I got a quote for a larger order of 10,000 mugs. They could be finished in 30 days, at around $4 per mug.
Sounds great, right!? That’s a 60%+ lower cost up front for me. That also means lower prices for customers– win win?!
Not exactly. I decided not to buy 10,000 mugs. Instead, I’m ending the project.
Why I’m Ending Our “Factory Designed Cosmic Mug” Project
After the remaining 200 Factory Designed Cosmic Mugs sell out, they’ll be gone for good. Seriously. No April fools.
Years of diving deep into the business of factory sourcing has given me one key takeaway: factory work is really hard on people.
I want my art to be good for all humanity, not just profitable.
For a quick glimpse of what it’s like to work in factories, these two documentaries are enlightening. Both helped influence my decision to start, and also end, my project.
Here at Cherrico Pottery, we considered building a factory ourselves, to have more control over how people are treated as employees. We already have a large studio. Maybe we should keep expanding.
Where would you rather work: a factory or a studio?
Factories make things faster, cheaper and more profitable. The problem is people are treated like machines.
Studios make things with creativity and connection. The problem is the products can’t scale in quantity, requiring higher costs.
The world needs both. But where would you rather work?
I’d rather work in a studio, but I’m also lucky enough to be able to say that, and choose that. Most people don’t get to make that choice.
For millions of people, perhaps billions, factory jobs are the only jobs available. Some factories might be wonderful places to work. Others might have terrible working conditions.
Regardless, if people didn’t need to work 8-12 hour shifts on the factory floor, do you think they still would?
Robots and Universal Basic Income
The world needs manufacturing. Most of the objects we’re surrounded by were made in factories, including whatever smartphone, computer or device you’re reading this on.
What will happen as robots continue replacing people in repetitive factory work? Robotic hands might even be dexterous enough to craft pottery soon.
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Maybe robot help won’t be such a bad thing. Ideas like Universal Basic Income or “monthly citizen income” could let more people meet their basic costs of living. Then, perhaps more people could work on jobs that fulfill them personally. If machines can help reduce hard labor, why not let them?
After robots help reduce the hard, human cost of manufacturing, then maybe we’ll revisit using factories to make “Cosmic Mugs” affordable enough for anyone on the planet to experience them.
Until then, I’m headed back to the studio. No more time spent sourcing from factories. Instead, I’m putting that energy into exploring new art. The challenge now is making the best art I can, in appropriate quantities and fair prices, and trusting that people will still support it.
Charity events, silent auctions and raffle ticket fundraisers can be great ways to raise money for worthy causes. People ask us to donate pottery to their charity events regularly. They’ve been asking for years, and I used to say yes every time.
But a few years ago, I started saying no.
It’s not because we get too many requests. Even if we donated one pot per week, that’s only 52 pots per year, out of the 6,000+ pots we made last year.
It’s not because people don’t want the art. People might not bid the full $165 retail price for a Cosmic Mug at a charity auction, but it would definitely help raise some money.
There is one main reason why I don’t donate art.
Put yourself in the shoes of an artist. Which would you rather have someone say to you:
“Donate to our event please. It will support a good cause and get your name out there.”
or
“I just bought your art!”
If I donate my art to charity, then it tells the charity that it’s okay to ask other artists for free stuff too. That’s the problem.
Too many artists struggle to sell their art for what it’s worth. I believe artists are some of the last people in society that we should be asking for donations. You would never ask a doctor, lawyer or banker to donate their work to a silent auction.
Instead of donating pottery, we just let our pottery be available for sale on store.cherricopottery.com, cosmicmugs.com and to our Patrons. Then, we donate a portion of the money to charities that we care about, and keep a public record here, to help keep us accountable:
You shouldn’t donate to every charity who contacts you. We don’t, because that would be impossible. Every time I mention donations, we tend to get a flood of requests.
Just this week, another person emailed us asking us to donate pottery to an event for their son, a 10 year old boy who is fighting cancer.
Stores like this are so sad. Of course it makes me want to donate! But giving art and/or money to everyone who asks isn’t sustainable. Business, like everything, requires balance (I told them we can’t donate pottery, but we’re happy to donate some cash instead.)
It’s not important to donate to everyone who asks. What’s important is that you stay open to the idea of supporting charities, and actually do it consistently.
We simply pick a few good causes, and then make sure we’re giving consistently. Then, when we have stronger sales or another good cause comes to our attention, we can give a little more.
Society works best when we all make an extra effort to be of service to others. Donating money might not be the best way to solve problems, but it helps, and it’s our way of giving back beyond just making art.
A hot cup of tea with a good book is a splendid way to start the day. So, I thought it would be fun to give away one of my favorite books, paired with mugs inspired by it.
This giveaway features $395 in free pottery and books:
ENDED. Giveaway winner was emailed directly: “Ivetta” Congrats to you!
Tim Ferriss actually inspired the initial ideas orbiting the Cosmic Mug. He got one of the first 100 ever made years ago. I spy with my little eye a top shelf Cosmic Mug…
I’ve been following his “5-Bullet Friday” email for years. It’s one of the best, free newsletters I actually read, because it has valuable lessons from experts in nearly every industry: art, technology, business, mindfulness, mental health, love, sex, relationships, cooking, physical fitness….it’s probably the highest value newsletter I read weekly. Subscribe here if you’re curious: “5-Bullet Friday”
Tribe of Mentors is like a hard copy of those emails. It’s a collection of successful people, who each define success differently.
It’s one of my favorite books because it’s not just a collection of lessons. It’s a collection of people who prove that anything is possible.
As a potter, I’m successful if the newest pottery I make is always the best pottery yet.
But what if I have a bad firing? What if the pots turn out great, but no one buys them? What if I’m just having a terrible day, and don’t feel like working?
Tribe of Mentors is a book I turn to when I’m looking for inspiration from people who are the best at what they do. Sure, all of these people have websites, social media, etc…but there’s something special about being able to step away from our highly addictive smartphones.
Books give us the increasingly rare opportunity to go past the surface, and really dig deep into valuable life lessons.
“Every day is an opportunity to create a living masterpiece.”
Michael Gervais, pg. 412, Tribe of Mentors
You also have to love what you do.
Flipping the slogan of “Do what you love” to “Love what you do” changes how we spend our time. Instead of dreaming grandiose thoughts of succeeding at our passion, we can love what’s right here in front of us– even if we’re struggling with something that’s not so glamorous.
“‘Do what you love‘ is in the future. ‘Love what you do‘ is right now.”
– Paul Buchheit
You’ve probably never heard of Paul Buchheit, but his work helps millions of people everyday. He invented Gmail.
Paul worked at Google and helped build it from the ground up, back when Google was tiny– less than 30 people.
Why do some companies stay small, while some grow to mammoth scales like Google? Is it just luck? Being in the right place at the right time? Or does it have more to do with our choices?
Paul compares growing a business to launching a rocket. What’s most important is why— our purpose, and our deep human need to explore.
“It’s often assumed that business is all about money. But to me, that’s like saying that rockets are all about rocket fuel. On some level, it’s true. You won’t even make it off the launchpad without fuel…But among the truly significant founders [businesses] I’ve known, there’s always a larger purpose. It’s not just the nihilistic pursuit of rocket fuel.”
For 5 straight years, I lived as a full-time potter but barely made minimum wage. Sometimes I had to fight to keep Cherrico Pottery alive and often traded pottery for food.
Looking back now and admitting that is embarrassing. But at the time, people would constantly tell me, “At least you get to do what you love!”
That’s not how I survived. Cherrico Pottery grew because I woke up everyday and loved what I did.
I was genuinely excited to work 18 hours straight on a kiln firing. To me, it felt like playing with clay and fire day!
I didn’t care that the payoff was maybe a few hundred dollars worth of pottery to sell for the week (before expenses). I loved the artistic process. The work of making pottery, living as a potter, was it’s own reward. And I always sold/traded enough pottery to get by.
And years later, that love also helped grow the business too, starting when I created the “Cosmic Mug” and raised $34,099 in one month on Kickstarter.
“Frugality, Focus, Obsession and Love”
– Sam Altman
Focus is so rare today, with our easy digital distractions. But when you lean into the difficulty of an intricate craft, you reap the rewards. Years of toil and strife set me up for the skills necessary to captivate people in a Guinness World Records spectacle, achieving the record on my first try. But that wouldn’t have been possible without 10k+ hours of deliberate practice.
Frugality taught us how to package pottery with post-consumer and eco-friendly materials, like when we shipped 1,000 pots with 1,000 egg cartons.
We don’t make art because it’s necessary for our capitalist society. We make art because it’s necessary for humanity. Loving what we do means that even when times are hard, when things aren’t going so well, we can still find joy everyday. Long-term, that’s a recipe for success.
(ENDED: congrats to the winner, Helen W and she was emailed and notified about her free gifts. Thank you for your wonderful comment Helen, and thank you everyone for participating! To get notified about all future giveaways, please join cherricopottery.com/newsletter
Leave a comment on this blog post before 2pm Central this Friday 8/17/2019 answering the question above (What is one thing that you do everyday because you love it?) and I will pick one person to win one free “Random Cosmic Mug” from our back stock paired with a coin I carry in my pocket almost everyday. It says, “Amor Fati” which means “Love of Fate.” It reminds me to love everything, both good and bad, everyday. It helps me use even my hardships as fuel, like a fire that turns everything in it’s path into fuel. I got it from dailystoic.com because I really enjoy their work, and I’ll mail it to one of you for free (giveaway 21+ void where prohibited, no unicorns, etc…winner will be chosen by Joel Cherrico and announced in the comments around 3pm Central Friday 8/17/2019). Please allow 24-48 hours max for our moderator to approve your comment 🙂
