Custom Order Dinnerware by glazedOver Pottery

Today I shipped off a custom 16-piece dinnerware set. This was no ordinary custom order, I have to tell you. It was the dictionary definition of “joyous.” It started with a convo from the buyer asking me, innocently enough, if I am able to make 8” dinner plates.

“Absolutely,” was my rapid reply, plus details to proceed with a custom order if she was interested in going ahead.

Then, without skipping a beat, she simply bought some of my tiny dipping bowls in the glaze pattern that first caught her eye.

“She’s coooool,” I thought, “I like her!” She was clearly checking me out in the flesh (in the stoneware!), doing some industrial espionage first. What a smart cookie.

She gave those dipping bowls as a present, she told me. Then she missed them and bought some more for herself.  She missed my bowls! Now I reaally liked her.

When it comes to socializing, I’m usually inclined to be very reserved with my buyers. I generally figure that overly-friendly letters from the artist might be more than the buyer bargained for. They like the pottery, but they might not necessarily want to sit and have coffee with the potter. In this case, though, I’d like nothing more than to meet this particular buyer for a coffee. She works for a family foundation working on preservation of history and heritage, and the conservation of resources and sites. The custom order took a little while to manifest, so we’ve had some time to get to know each other. We exchanged not only friendly emails, but personal pictures too. At one point, she and her husband even wrote from an internet cafe during their trip to Peru!

With her freshness of spirit, charm, and admirable worldliness, she has inspired me both  artistically and personally.  Would that every transaction could be so joyous and so enriching!