Hi, I’m Heather

Eventually, I decided it was time to invest in my own wheel. I set up a tiny studio in the apartment I rented with my boyfriend and very slowly started to collect equipment and materials to get me going. Heather generously gifted me a small kiln she wasn’t using and I was able to fire small pieces on my deck as long as it didn’t rain. Money was tight and the process was slow but eventually, I had a nice little setup and could explore my new found passion from the comfort of my home. In 2017 I started Cote Clayworks and began selling my work on Etsy, mostly to my very supportive family and friends.

My first in-person pottery booth was in the summer of 2017. It was called Eco Fair CT and much like my experience online, most of my sales went to my lovely friends and family who came out to support my budding small business. I remember feeling so loved and so honored to receive their support and the thrill of selling my work, even to my loved ones, was very exciting.

At some point around that time, I decided to go back to college and although I studied Business Administration, I was able to fill my elective requirements with pottery courses and expanded my foundational knowledge of all things clay related. Eventually, I moved to a new apartment that was too small to setup my wheel so I had to temporarily retire my home studio and found myself back in classes at The Studio in Fairfield CT. There I learned even more new techniques and methods from their potters.

In 2021, my partner and I bought a house and I immediately broke my wheel out of retirement and claimed most of the basement as my studio space. A few months later, I found a listing on Facebook Marketplace for a kiln at an affordable price that seemed to be in great shape. The only catch was that it was located in Niagara Falls. So, my friend, Fox and I hopped in my car for a 16 hour round trip. When we got there, we couldn’t believe how lucky I had gotten.

We entered the lovely home of an elderly man with an extensive model train collection. The man’s wife, who was a ceramicist, had died some years before and left behind her kiln which had been gently used and functioned as if it were brand new. He was looking to clear out the space and wanted it to go to a good home. So we loaded it up, stopped in Buffalo for some chicken wings, and headed back home. I couldn’t have been more grateful to the man and his family. He gifted me a small bud vase his wife had made that now lives in my studio as an homage to her. It really felt like it was meant to be.

And just like that, I had the last piece to my ever-evolving, largely-thrifted, home studio I had started 6 years before. And this time, I knew I wouldn’t have to break it all down to move to another apartment in a year or two. I could finally get nice and comfy.

In 2023 I signed up for yet another pottery class at Brookfield Craft Center right around the corner from my house. I felt it had been too long since I was in a class setting and wanted to do it for fun even though I was very active in my home studio and on social media. I learned a lot from Roberta, my new instructor and as always, I was glad I took the class.

In 2024 I moved my online shop off Etsy to my own site (here!) and started teaching classes at a few local pottery studios. That’s when I discovered how much I love teaching. That changed everything. What started as 1 class each week grew to as many as I could get the studios to give me. At the same time, I started gathering more tools and equipment so I could teach small groups at home. After about a year of teaching part time on the side, I realized I could actually make a living as a pottery teacher. On February 10th 2025 I left my day job. After that, I worked at 4 different studios for a while, splitting my time between them to teach enough classes to keep myself afloat.

My home studio, always my favorite, had evolved into a tiny version of a community studio. With 4 wheels (plus my standing wheel) I could teach groups of 4 as long as they were willing to be really close to each other and not have enough workspace to hand-build much of anything. Luckily for me, everyone was a good sport and we developed a really amazing community of potters. 1 year after leaving my day job, my home studio was bursting at the seems and it was time to expand.

I reached out to a realtor in February of 2026 to start looking at commercial spaces for a proper studio. I remember thinking it would probably take about 4-6 months before I found something that checked all my boxes. Well, when we walked into the first space, it was immediately clear that we had found it. Not only was it 2 minutes away from home, it was full of natural light and had the exact structure of the space I had pictured in my head since I dared to dream of owning my own studio. It was so clearly meant to be. I signed the lease on February 11th 2026 and got to work on the build out.

My amazing community of family, friends, and potters came to paint walls and build furniture with me. We got the space ready in only 2 months and opened the doors on April 18th 2026.

Cote Clayworks now offers a full menu of memberships, classes, workshops, and events. And all those potters who crammed into my basement studio together now have the space to spread out and let their creativity soar.

I feel extremely lucky to be on this journey of self discovery and artistic exploration. I’m looking forward to uncovering what the future holds but I know one thing for sure, it will be covered in clay.

Love, Heather