Ibegan a studio practice outside of Philadelphia in 1976. The timing could not have been more fortuitous. Wholesale and retail markets were beginning to offer viable sales opportunities. Galleries were opening every month. The public had an insatiable demand for utilitarian work. I produced a line of stoneware pottery, which I sold at major wholesale and retail craft events throughout the country. My work was uncomplicated, had a strong sense of form and simple surface embellishments created by layered, satin matte glazes. As I look back, I can see that those pots were totally market-driven, but they sustained me for thirteen years.
After a three-year break spent working in the ski and bike industries in the Colorado mountains, I returned to making pottery, but the demand for handmade ceramics was in a decline. I floundered for several years, trying to carve a niche in an anemic marketplace. I had some plaster-working skills and knew how to make molds. Those simple skills morphed into a ceramic manufacturing and design business, and with a core group of dedicated employees, Ceramic Design Group built a diverse client base, which we served for sixteen years.
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