Today we’d like to introduce you to Karina Kudla.
Hi Karina, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My career in ceramics started as a combination of desire of developing my artistic side, creating and decorating things with my own hands, and the passion of interacting with people and making them happy. Back in Brazil, while growing up I would always go with my mom to various fairs and markets that had plants, crafts, and decorations. My mom loved exchanging and sharing not only her variety of plants but also discussing with people the ideas of how to improve a home or living spaces. Eventually, I started acquiring that inclination for redecoration and home improvement.
After graduating from UH with a bachelor’s degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management, I worked for many years in the accounting and benefits department at River Oaks Country Club in Houston. I loved working there as I love the hospitality atmosphere and the behind the scenes operation that is needed to bring the best experience to guests. This atmosphere and relationship is what I am carrying into my ceramic classes and into connecting with my customers. Their feedback and their happiness of what they get from my classes or products is very important for me.
Few months after my second child was born, I needed to spend more time with my kids and not in the office. So, I decided to leave my good job and planned to work on my own business. At that time, I started taking ceramic classes, reading books about pottery, and practicing the most that I could in the ceramic field.
But why ceramics? Ceramics has been in my mind and heart since I started taking hand building ceramic classes at a local community learning center. I love designing, creating, and making things with my own hands. The feel of my hand on the raw clay is a special moment that I have. I feel happy when I am making a ceramic piece. Adding details and using different techniques of finishing my design thrills me because I know it’s something unique! Everything I make is not a machine made, it’s handmade! Ceramic requires a long process to have a finished product. But I do like that because I work towards a goal.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My biggest challenge and the one that I am still facing today after starting my business was the ability to spread the word about my work, my passion. My product is something that needs to be seen personally, touched by people’s hands, where I get to explain how it is made. After this contact, people admire even more what I do. Nowadays, technology is something that everybody uses to purchase products. My ceramics is not only a product, but also a service and the attention that I give to each piece that I make. And this combination is not something that is easily seen or sold online. However, I understand that this is the way of the future and I am very focused on improving this area of online sales and particularly marketing of the experience I am trying to project.
Even before getting to the point that I am today, I faced other challenges and was able to overcome them successfully.
Since I started planning on working with ceramics as a job, I faced two main struggles that held me back from starting my business: My house in Houston got flooded during Hurricane Harvey and my family and I moved to Brazil for about two years.
In 2017 after leaving my job, and learning about ceramics, I had all my equipment ready and started preparing my ceramic inventory for sale. However, hurricane Harvey flooded our home. We lost everything on the first floor of our house, including all my ceramic business equipment and a lot of inventory. It was a very difficult time in my life, and I had to start basically from the beginning as I had to fix my equipment that was salvageable and replace what couldn’t be repaired. This was in addition to getting my life back on track.
After having our whole house remodeled and my equipment fixed, in 2019, we needed to pack everything and move temporarily to Brazil. This move was very difficult for me as I wanted so much to start working on my business after recovering from the flood. However, starting my business got pushed back for another 2 years.
Even though I faced these challenges I tried to work with any opportunity that I had to improve my skills and spread the word about my passion for ceramics.
I finally got going at the end of 2020, and finally opened my new studio early part of 2021.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have a ceramic studio located in Old Katy, TX, where I teach pottery classes and make handmade ceramic pieces for sale. I also attend local art and craft fairs and have presence on social media. My passion for ceramics is carried in everything that I do. Since the first time I touched the raw clay, I knew ceramics was the path that I would take to fulfil my needs in art and the relationship with future customers and students. I love to go through the whole process of making a ceramic piece from a raw clay to a glazed piece. I enjoy adding beauty and details to each piece that I make. Carving is my favorite technique! I love carving precise designs on cups, vases, tiles, plaques, or lampshades. I see myself in a different niche of the market than pure artist or people who mass produce ceramics. While I still see myself as a ceramic artist that loves creating and making pottery, I also see ceramics as a business. Every ceramic piece that I create and make is focused on quality, durability, and utility. So, customer satisfaction is always in the back of my mind. I am very proud of what I do and how I do it!
This combination of art and business, where I focus on customer satisfaction, comes from my hospitality background. After working for years in the Rio de Janeiro hotel industry, and then completing Hotel and Restaurant Management program at the University of Houston, I kept working for many years in this career. But I noticed I was not fulfilled. Ceramics was the answer for me! I create handmade ceramic pieces that will belong to someone’s history.
Ceramics is a very diverse field and what caught my eyes and heart was the possibility of designing and making different types of tiles and plaques to be installed in different places such as a backsplash in kitchens, bathrooms, and fireplaces.
During my time as the general contractor in charge of remodeling of my flooded house, I saw the opportunity to design and create tiles for my kitchen backsplash. I cut, dried, fired, glazed, and installed each tile. It was a dream coming true! I wanted to work with tiles and lamp shades for home and business’ décor. And after finishing this project I saw I could do it because I have passion and I am good at it. From there I started making other backsplashes and designing custom ceramic pieces for every family that helped us after the flood. This is what I am ultimately striving to excel in and am currently working on expanding my home décor and handmade tile offering.
While working with ceramics and towards the end of major Covid lockdowns, I noticed that people that saw my posts online wanted to have the experience on making ceramic pieces as well. At that moment I decided teaching and embracing of showing students how to make their ceramic pieces in a pleasant and efficient way. I focus on teaching my students with a combination of methods that I acquired over the years and courses taken. I see clearly that they can improve their skills if they want to. This feedback of getting their smile and realization fulfills my needs.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
My husband is my greatest supporter in this success! He is the one that is always supporting me not only emotionally, but also physically. I must admit that sometimes I feel down and discouraged facing so many difficulties as a new entrepreneur. However, his words of encouragement have been in my mind for years. At the very beginning of this ceramic journey, he gave me couple books about business accounting and another one about tiles. Along with the books he wrote me a card and he told me: “I know you can do it; I trust you”. This is what I keep in mind to give me strength on the daily basis. As a mechanical engineer, my husband tends to try to fix and learn how things work mechanically. He is my number one helper in all the equipment that I work with. He always jokes saying he is the “handyman”. That is so true! He rewired one of my flooded kilns, fixed my flooded wheel and is always fixing anything that I need. When people come to the studio to have a single class, they have no idea what is behind the scenes. But I know, and I do appreciate all his work and effort!
My kids are also my supporters. My kids are always involved in what I do and what my husband and I have been working on in the studio. They always give me positive feedback and never complain to have to go to the studio. Even though they are young, 8 and 9 years old, they are always involved in the business somehow. My son has a math mind and always talks about his ideas in sales approach. My daughter on the other hand, has her artistic views and talent. She loves making ceramics and is always giving me ideas on new pieces to be made.
My mom is also someone that has a special place on all of this. She is my idol! She taught me how to be a strong, independent and humble woman.
Pricing:
- One-time pottery class: $65. This is a 3-hour class that a student comes to learn how to make ceramic pieces on the wheel or hand building. I provide the clay, tools and aprons to be used during class. It’s a fun and relaxing time!
- Handmade Ceramic Pieces: Approximate $20-$100. All pieces are made from raw clay, hand-built or made on the wheel, decorated, glazed and fired in Katy, TX.
Contact Info:
- Email: aimeeshandcrafts@gmail.com
- Website: www.aimeeshandcrafts.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/aimeeshandcrafts/
- Facebook: facebook.com/aimeeshandcrafts
