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Sven using a machine to lift the Ram Press body out of it's home in our old studio (in chaos)

January 2025: Moving from our Home Studio to the New Studio

January 2025 started out slow, as we always aim it to be. During the transition from one year to another, we always try to take some time off from SVEN Ceramics to wind down from the holiday season, rest up, and visit family and friends. We had big plans to get the new studio set up this month, but the combination of a long cold that felled us both and set-backs from PG+E that are keeping us from being fully able to move into the new studio put a big halt on making it all happen. 

And so, we recovered, made chicken soups and congee, and read. I enjoyed "The Black Bird Oracle" by Deborah Harkness, and Sven delved into Stephen King's "Holly". We watched the LA fires spread with horror, getting updates from Sven's family members when they were evacuated, and when his cousin's home burned down. It made us both very sad and anxious to witness from afar.

When we started feeling better, Sven began to work on moving the RAM Press out of our backyard studio. With each piece weighing several hundred pounds or more--and a tiny cluttered space to get it out of--it's been a considerable puzzle for him. But today all the pieces are finally out, and he's going to clean them and re-paint them (goodbye generic grey machine color!) before carting them over to the new studio. 

One of the issues we've been facing in this move is our current inability to start any new making projects, nor finish any pieces that are mid-cycle. Our ceramics studio is currently split between two places, with everything that's at the new studio unable to be used, but without enough machines at our home studio to do anything either. And so, we've made a plan to bring the smaller of our electric kilns back to our old studio in order to do a bisque firing (so we can do a glaze firing) and a gold lustre firing. We are both looking forward to being able to make things again, and to start going towards another Winter Collection release. 

Our thoughts on the upcoming release: in either late February or early March we will be releasing another collection of our Winter Colorways. So you didn't see the last of Cedar, Nautical Twilight, Dream, or Winter Midnight! Given the current state of our maker space, it will definitely be a smaller release than the one we did during the Holidays, but it will be a good time to catch a piece in one of these delightfully cozy colorways. If there's a winter colorway or a gold lustre design you particularly want to see in this release, shoot us a note! I will be swayed :) 

Despite the chaos of our studios, it's hard to tell you how much we are looking forward to being in this new studio. The space is the stuff of our literal dreams and fantasies, and it's still hard to believe we'll be there for 4 whole years. When we get bogged down in the logistics of getting the space up and running, we like to daydream about the possibilities the space holds. Will we share it with other artists? We certainly won't be using our machines to their full potential, and we really love the idea of finding the right ceramic artists to share our space with. We also like to talk about the classes and events we will be able to have in the new studio, the gatherings, the parties! We have recently begun dreaming about having a space to have a membership studio that is available to use whenever people want to make ceramics. If you are local to the area and this idea appeals to you (having a ceramics membership at Pier 70) please reach out, we would love to know! 

And so, this is what we've been up to lately, and some of the thoughts rattling around in our heads. I look forward to updating this page when we have some more news!

Mallie