Renee started doing pottery when her mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer: “Pottery saved my life as it gave me an outlet and distraction from the reality of my mother dying and the stress of my senior management tech job,” says Renee, “There was a spiritual aspect working with the clay; it grounded me.”

She decided she wanted to share her experience with clay’s healing and grounding properties, and went back to the drawing board with her career. She left her corporate job, bought a wheel and kiln and set up a home studio in her basement.

When Renee’s mother did pass away, it was the first day of the shutdown in Ohio for COVID.  Alexis, returning home from Bowling Green with her BFA, wanted to get back into throwing and help her mother continue her newfound passion through the wave of grief.

Once the two were working together, it quickly became a family affair – the rest of the family joined to help with each step of the process, from design ideas to glazing and eventually working shifts at craft shows.

These craft shows propelled this therapeutic hobby into a business, and the main catalyst was the IX-Center’s Christmas Connections show in November of 2021.

Renee explains, “Our time at the show – being on the local news, hosting demonstrations, and selling our work proved to us that this was a needed service, and that’s when it changed from ‘just selling pottery’ into finding a storefront and creating a public studio – a business.”