Cottage and Lodge

One of the decisions I made during the week was to start packaging my wholesale offerings into two lines. This comes out of a conversation with Jamie Oates and Jeanette Faunce of Maine-ly Pottery, about how a unified look is more appealing, and partly from my donut-shop reflections. Also rattling around in my thinking is the study out of Columbia that suggests that, confronted with too many choices, people are LESS likely to buy, which makes me want to simplify my offerings. Not by making less stuff - like that would ever happen - but by organizing it in a way that people are looking at fewer, more similar pieces.

Because I live in Maine, and my work is sort of casual and carefree, I am calling the two lines Cottage and Lodge, after the places where Mainers go to unwind. Well: we also go to the beach, and to Three Dollar Dewey's, but no one brings pottery to those places. Folks with cabins and summer places often furnish them with greater attention than they do their homes.
So. My job today (while waiting for the vessel sinks to dry) is to make a list of the pieces I will need for such a line. I am starting with Lodge, becuase it's 3 F outside and I am in a Lodge kind of a mood. There will, of course, be some overlap between lines, both will need plates, mugs, and bowls for example. Lodge will incorporate the thicker, faceted pieces I have been working on, and utilize the darker glazes: tenmoku, amber celadon, June Perry Oribe, Satin Doll Black; all contrasted with unglazed areas of flashing slip.

Items:

• Mugs
• Plates
• Soup/salad bowls
• Sugar/ creamer set
• Baking dishes
• Casserole
• Serving Bowl
  

Okay, into the studio I go.