I first discovered Klai Brown through my friend and previous business partner, Brandy Lewis of Makers Mess. While working on the launch of Makers Mess, Brandy and I would spend hours in her dining room grinding out all the details involved in opening a brand new storefront/studio.
Brandy had a couple mugs of hers on the shelf in her dining room that she picked up at Unique LA. The images on the mugs were haunting and beautiful. They had drawings of women's faces with all their imperfections and beauty. I loved them. Brandy and I decided right then to contact Klai to see how we could work with her.
Klai visited the studio for an event, sold her mugs retail with us, taught an amazing ceramic spoon-making class and it was so fun to follow along on her artistic journey via Instagram.
I went to Klai's home studio in Long Beach last week to take some photos of her current projects. She's gearing up for a trip to Chicago so she had plenty of fun things around to studio to snap photos of.
Here were my 3 top questions for Klai:
How did you start?
"I got into ceramics at by taking a wheel throwing class as an elective at Cypress College. I had a great teacher, Charlene Felos. She was always slinging life lessons with her clay demos.. I was hooked the first time I laid my hands down on the mushy earthy clay :). I brought projects home, would work all night on them and slowly made a home studio. I went on to study ceramics at Cal State Long Beach, earning a BFA in clay.
Not really sure what to do next, I got a job making and casting teeth a ceramics dental lab, when I got out of school, which was interesting but not creative.
Oddly, I fell into selling my stuff when I met up with a group called the Long Beach Craft Mafia. The craft mafia ( a group of girl makers and business people - in a nutshell) originated in Austin and has groups all over the US. Anyway, I met up with them in Long Beach and did my first craft fair with them. It went well so I kept on doing it! That was 5 or 6 years ago."
What inspires you?
"Japanese block prints, skate punk posters from the 80’s and 90’s, graphic novels, japanese cartoons, quirky beauty, crowded teeth, wandering eyes.. nature, feelings."
What about your craft do you love?
"I love making. so. much. I love the challenge of problem solving visual ideas, creating finished products for everyday use that inspire us to stop and look. I love working with my hands... in any way; Building with wood, clay, paper, fiber. I just love making things. Ceramics are cool because clay can become anything, functional or not, smooth or rough, wabi or modern. I guess I'm saying I love the versatility of the medium as well as the endless possibilities. I love that it can last hundreds of years, that it’s origins are primitive (primitive bowls and jugs) and also helps us reach outer space (tiles on the space shuttle). In addition to that, I can draw all over it if i want to."
Below is a sneak peek from my studio tour:
