BY TAMRA BOOTH, KEEEPS
It’s been all go this month already, which is the reason why we’ve only just got round to writing this blog now – oops! But they say better late than never, so here we are!
December seems like a long time ago given the hectic start to the year, but it was a month where lots of fun and exciting stuff happened – and we’re not just talking about Christmas.
Studio Visits
Jenn Brewin
The month started with a visit to one of our favourite potters, Jenn Brewin, to Peckham in London, to collect some pottery. We ordered a boatload of pottery from Jenn and in my usual fashion, I’d completely forgotten how much until I saw the 5 huge boxes waiting for me.
At the time of my visit, Jenn was heavily pregnant, and little did we know at the time, baby Brewin would be arriving 1 week from that date! Jenn had been a busy bee, making all the pottery for us in advance of her maternity leave but bless her, she was having to lean right over to reach the wheel with her pregnancy bump. Congratulations Jenn, on the arrival of beautiful baby Robyn – she’s an absolute beauty.
You’ll recognise Jenn’s work as Keeeps is already lucky enough to stock it, but our favourite new piece that we collected has to be the fingerprint mugs. When glazing, she holds them at the base which leaves behind five little unglazed fingerprint marks. We love Jenn’s exquisite throwing technique which makes her work super consistent, and her pieces are just really modern and chic which we love!
Despite giving birth just one month ago, she has been sneaking into her studio every couple of days to load up her kiln so there will be more of her pottery hitting Keeeps’ shelves soon!
Adrian Gonzalez
I’ve been a huge fan of Adrian’s work for a while, originally finding him through Instagram. Whilst having lunch with a very good friend of mine, she mentioned in passing that she had a friend who was a potter and recommended I get in touch. I couldn’t believe it when she said it was Adrian – it really is a small world.
Adrian’s work is amazing and completely different to anything that we currently stock. His volcanic collection is divine and you can see the hours of work that has gone into creating and refining these pieces – a reason that we just love handmade pottery, you just don’t get this finish and feel from mass-produced; his pieces are super unique and special.
I bought some enormous volcanic bowls, which are guaranteed to provide wow factor in our customer’s homes, as well as some dinnerware sets which are completely unique and perfect for those who love having people over for dinner.
If Adrian’s volcanic collection has piqued your interest, keep your eyes peeled on our socials as these are likely to hit our online shelves very soon.
Hello Victoria!
Victoria Johnston popped over to drop off some pottery for us too, which included a new consignment of classic salt pigs, one of our bestselling items. We’ve just restocked on the website, so there is a brand new batch online waiting to be snapped up.
Victoria creates really ergonomic pieces that you really want to reach out and touch: super smooth and tactile. Her pieces are so functional too, designed to make life easy but look fabulous too!
Pottery Party Time!
Brand Events, the company who run Pub in the Park and other events, asked us to throw them a pottery party for their Christmas do and we JUMPED at the chance. So what if our studio wasn’t ready and we didn’t have the space to run it? WE WOULD FIND A WAY. So, we did! And it was really so much fun, and judging by the feedback, and the merriment at the party, Brand Events did too!
As you all know, due to delays with the build our premises on the high street has been delayed, so we held the event in our local community centre, Liston Hall in Marlow. It took a lot of planning and it was manic in the week leading up to it but it was so worth it. We had such a laugh with everyone. The task was to make some “naughty” mugs. Wow – the human imagination never ceases to amaze me.
We enjoyed it so much and the feedback was so great that we have decided to offer larger party options when our high street studio and store open soon.
Whilst I’m on the topic of parties, we have had a HUGE amount of interest in group bookings, particularly hen parties, children’s parties, and special birthdays. If this is something you might be interested in, we would encourage you to get in contact as soon as possible as these are going to be very popular and we anticipate will get booked up rather quickly!
Goodbye, 2021
I had a good couple of weeks off at the end of December and beginning of January, and whilst I didn’t completely switch off, it was the perfect time to gain some perspective, reflect on the year, and look forward to the year to come.
Whilst we’re not big on New Year's resolutions (because as they say, they are meant to be broken), but we are big on setting some goals to aim for! My lovely colleague Meg asked me a few questions about 2021, and also about 2022 so here they are, along with my answers.
What are your top three Keeeps moments from 2021?
First of all, Pub in the Park in September – what an absolute dream. The festival is held in my home town and so I know what a positive and fun place it is. It was a real highlight (not just of the year either!) to be at the festival, but with a stand with my business branding on for the first time and speaking to people that believed in what we were doing.
Second has to be opening the pop-up shop. After the disappointment of having to delay the opening of the main high street store, we managed to turn that negative into a positive by opening up our second pop-up – and we did it in record time as well. It looks absolutely fabulous, and it’s set us in good stead for the opening of the high street store, allowing us to work through the niggles (and giggles) and get ourselves up and running.
Finally, but definitely not last, was a little moment in November, during a Teams call with the team, when a huge wave of gratitude and happiness washed over me when I realised I had somehow managed to bring together an incredible bunch of lovely, passionate, fun and hard-working people to help me bring Keeeps to life! I still have to keep pinching myself! What a team they are (welling up again!).
What was Keeeps’ most challenging moment in 2021?
Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge was the delays in the build for the shop, and the extra complications and challenges with our premises being a listed building. It hasn’t been ideal for business cashflow, and at the beginning, I have to say there were some sleepless nights. But, linking with what I said above, it has given us some extra time to get our processes and procedures sorted for the store and will help us to roll out other stores in the near future.
What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
That’s an easy one! Opening the store and welcoming our customers! It’s been a long time coming and I just cannot wait to see people admiring our pottery in person, in a calm, relaxing environment and, of course, making pottery in our studio and learning something new.
What do you think will be the biggest challenge for Keeeps in 2022?
Making sure our customers have the very best pottery experience with us whilst ensuring that the business is viable, organised and we are in a position to open the next store.
Finally, tell me the plans for 2022? What are the three things you are focusing on?
Firstly, building the best team. They’re doing a great job so far – I can’t wait for our customers to meet them!
Continuing steady organic growth for our online store – which has proven harder than it looks but we are constantly learning and enjoying the journey.
Finally, creating sensational pottery experiences that you, our customers, will love. After all, that’s the reason I started Keeeps in the first place.
POTTERY CLASSES
Finally, I’d like to thank you for all of your emails and messages received asking about classes – we are so glad you are all as excited as we are to get stuck in!
The booking system is now built and is ready to go (yippee!) but we cannot yet confirm opening dates until we have received delivery dates for our furniture and shelving…which have been delayed for various reasons. We are hoping to be open mid to late February and for the booking app to go live in the next two weeks.
Please email us at hello@keeeps.co.uk to be added to our waiting list, and you will be emailed with an update as soon as we know more!
We really hope 2022 is a great one for you, and we can't wait to meet some of you this year at our store and studio!
As always, keep an eye on our social accounts for updates, but otherwise, we’ll catch up with you next month for our January update!
Tamra x