There’s another wave coming behind, and on and on…
In 2012 I left my corporate job as a project manager and took a leap into the unknown, as a full time artist, and I built a business.
Diving in
A month into that decision, retailer Anthropologie contracted me to make 2,000 of my specialty driftwood spoons, dinnerware and a full spread of select pieces.
I produced four different series of works for Anthro, which launched me onto the world stage as a maker.
The Yonder Shop
I created The Yonder Shop out of my need for a larger studio space. I found a 500 square foot space in Pacifica and opened my doors in 2013.
I happened to do this at the right moment, and found along with the Anthro projects a number of publications, podcasts, news stories and blog interviews followed. I couldn’t have had a more supportive and exciting start.
Photo | Cat Cutillo
Relocation
After 18+ years of clay, 5+ years as a shop and studio, we moved to a bigger space in San Francisco in 2017. A place to expand the studio, teach classes, build on the shops’ style and showcase a number of direct from artists products.
The new shop offered the same carefully curated selection of goods from around the globe and an open plan working ceramic studio.
As a small creative arts business, we’ve experienced our share of challenges, mishaps and world wide events out of our control, all having shaped our trajectory. It’s been one of the best creative projects of my life, and I am so proud of all we’ve (I couldn’t have done it alone) accomplished over the years.
The goal of the shop was to create a place where makers shine. An eco-system of designed and made goods, alive with their stories told through the pieces made accessible as everyday objects that hold their value, and I believe we achieved that.
The shop was closed in 2025. I continue to show work through representation and interior design projects.
Disaster
July 12, 2018. A devastating electrical fire.
The building was built in 1911 with knob and tube wiring, fires are not uncommon. I had rewired almost the entire building, but one outlet…
I’ll never forget that week and all the people who literally saved my ass.
By October with a lot of help, we rebuilt the place and opened in 2 months!
Pandemic
Then covid happened and life changed for all of us.
A sad time as I emptied shelves and downsized to accommodate a smaller venue in the space. Like all of us it was overwhelming, to experience the fallout of covid in its many ways.
But also a time for reinvention.
Eric Stevans of Good Wood Co fame, and I designed the ultimate window shopping experience. Socially distanced curbside shopping, online orders & custom pieces.
The very talented artist Zai Divecha moved into the space once inhabited by the shop, creating a studio for herself as part of our overall shop/studio compound.
Thank you to every single customer who shopped and did projects with us during this very bazaar time. It kept the doors open, kept the lights on and kept me going.
Community
We have a small collective of makers in the studio and an expanding community I feel proud of, and so much is because of our followers, customers, and supporters.
I consider my studio members somewhat under my care and do everything I can to provide a space they can create in and support each of them in their goals.
Reinvention
In October 2025, after 13 years, we closed the retail shop.
Shifting my focus now to design projects and transitioning the retail area into a studio/ showroom/gallery space with a focus on providing works both by me and other makers to the trade.
Photo | Coup D’Etat
We’ve been through so much as a small business, a move to this beautiful space, a fire and pandemic. We’ve gotten so pro at being flexible!
There are too many people to thank over these last 13 years. So many friends and family that helped get this idea off the ground, countless memorable customers, conversations, interactions and introductions.
We aren’t going away, we have a buzzing studio home not just to me, but many talented makers that we will continue to offer.
Exciting times ahead!
Photo | Emma Fineman
Video | Aleksey Bochkovsky