We had the good fortune of connecting with Natalie Crenwelge and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Natalie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Starting my business was a slow climb. When I first began making pottery, I never thought it would turn into a career of selling pottery, but I’m so glad it did. As I began my pottery journey, I slowly began accumulating more and more work. I was presented with the opportunity to sell my artwork and ceramics at a local market. I accepted since I had so many pieces of work to share! I went to an arts magnet high school, so, naturally, I had a lot of different artwork across mediums. However, I quickly found that ceramics stood out as a popular item customers loved to buy, which was lucky because it was also the thing I enjoyed making the most!

Flash forward a few years and I had been selling on and off at local markets. In 2020, COVID hit, shutting down everything, including the local markets. Since I no longer had a market to help me sell my products, I decided to commit to the idea of having a ceramics business and scaled it up. I developed an online shop, nec-designs.com, for people to find me and buy from me across the U.S., I became more intentional and serious about building my Instagram, and more.

Overall, I approached building a business in the safest way possible over a few years. I think what made me feel good about it was that I could slowly test what people liked and what sold the best and adapt my business to that.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I like to think of my ceramics as functional works of art! I have an industrial design background which has given me the skills to develop functional products, and I use the methods from industrial design in my ceramics practice. More specifically, I often follow a design process of sketching new product ideas on paper, creating a few versions of the product, testing them to ensure they work how I planned them to, and then finally making more based on the testing I completed! I have done this with my pocket mugs (also known as tea mugs because they have a side pocket to hold your used tea bag), planters, thumb cups, and I am planning on making some travel mugs soon following this same process.

In the ceramics business, it can be difficult to set yourself apart and stand out from what everyone else is making. When I first began creating ceramics, I often looked to others’ works to see what the possibilities were and to try out new techniques and ideas. As I’ve become more comfortable with my work and become a better ceramicist, I have intentionally tried to look at other ceramicists’ work less. Don’t get me wrong, I still love supporting others and praising their designs and craft, but as far as design and style go, I want to ensure I am creating pieces that are true to me and my message. Therefore, I look to other things for inspiration, such as problems I can solve with a new ceramic product, nature, the items I choose to surround myself with, and sometimes even just random thoughts that pop into my head!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am based in Savannah, GA, and it is one of my favorite cities in the U.S. I would take anyone who wanted to visit me around the historic downtown and simply enjoy a walk through the squares, admiring the historic architecture. Savannah has a lot of great coffee shops, and two of my favorites are Foxy Loxy and Mirabelle’s. I would be sure to stop by one (or both!) of those after walking through Forsyth Park and seeing the iconic fountain. Just like coffee, Savannah has some great restaurants as well. The Crystal Beer Parlor has a wide variety of food in big portions – the soft pretzel there is good and easy to share between 3-4 people. Continuing with the walking theme, it’s always nice to walk down Broughton Street or even River Street to see the huge boats that hold all the shipping containers. Overall, I think Savannah is lovely to exist in. There are cute shops, places to drink, and places to eat, but simply walking around and enjoying nature and the city is one of my favorite things.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to give a shoutout to my parents and high school ceramics teachers! I would never have the skills needed to create my ceramics on my own without everything my teachers taught me. I also wouldn’t have been able to grow my business without the support of my parents, allowing me space in the house during the COVID lockdown to continue to create my products.

Website: https://www.nec-designs.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nec_designs_/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-crenwelge/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKQJW6DBfPx0dzQlbzkxwrw

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