Our imperfect, small batch pottery studio

Purchasing a set of handmade dishware is different from purchasing a set of manufactured dishware. You may have just said "duh" in your head, but before we get too far, we want to be really honest about what you can expect as well as what you’ll notice (and hopefully appreciate) about owning handmade vessels. 

Small batch pottery

First off, Simple Wares is a small batch pottery studio, which means we are the little guys when it comes to production. We’re a team of two with a small home studio and one kiln. We’re committed to producing high quality wares and we have goals of upping our inventory levels, but the bottom line is we won’t have everything in stock all the time. We will sell out of specific items in specific glazes. We actually already have! (Thank you for supporting us!!!) 

The good news is we do our best to keep an accurate inventory, so when you order from our site, your purchases are already in stock and you can expect your order to ship within two business days. If you have your heart set on something and we either don’t have the quantity you want or it is currently out of stock, rest assured, we promise to make more and to let you know when it’s back! 

That being said, we are NOT trying to create a culture of scarcity or induce panicky purchasing. We simply want to communicate what you can expect from us. If you have specific questions about quantities, ordering in bulk, or when things will be back in stock, you can email us at info@simplewares.com, or reach out to us on our socials.  

Imperfect by design

Just to be clear, Juan and I think a smooth, manufactured form with a perfect glaze line IS beautiful. It’s clean, it’s elegant, it’s uniform, it’s precise. But if we produced that line of pottery, it wouldn’t be a reflection of who we are and it wouldn’t reflect the nature of handmade. In our own way, by choosing to create pottery with throw lines and slightly imperfect forms, we’re embracing the in-progress nature of our own humanness. And as makers, we think that reflection is important. 

Here’s the fun bit. Handmade means variance. Since we aren’t using a machine and every piece is formed and glazed by hand, our pieces WILL be slightly different. We think those slight differences are actually pretty awesome but since we know variance doesn’t speak to everyone, we thought we’d highlight some of the differences you may see if you order several pieces from us. 

Glaze variance

Glazes are mixed by hand. Sometimes the formula is a bit different, and sometimes the person dipping the pottery doesn’t maintain the same flow which means the thickness of the glaze can vary. This difference will be slight, but can mean more or less speckle, and is especially apparent when purchasing items in White Sands.

Clay variance

Hey, hey! Another mix that can sometimes be different. Most of the time these pieces will never make it out the door of our studio, but we will pass a piece that has a clay variance on the base. This happens very rarely, but check out the photo above to see what this would look like.

Form variance

Juan might like to think he’s a machine when it comes to throwing, but he’s not:). He uses several guides and is honestly very good (I might be biased) at throwing consistently, but the truth is that the pieces will be a bit different. You could see slight differences in thickness of form, or verrrry slight differences in height or width. Most of this isn’t noticeable -- we essentially have a margin of error that we accept and if a piece doesn’t fall within that margin, it won’t make it into our inventory.

A final note 

Buying pottery online is tricky. The last thing we want is for you to wind up disappointed with pieces you didn’t get to handpick yourself. We hope this closer look gives you a clearer picture of Simple Wares pottery and the beautiful differences you might see if you choose to bring some home.

And THANK YOU for your support -- it means the world to us!