Heon Suk Hong

My art and crafts business named Studio Ceramic & Paper is planned to be launched in 2021.

Long time ago while visiting the National Museum of Korea in Seoul I got fascinated by the white porcelain ‘Moon jar’and then I got encouraged to study at ceramic schools in Madrid.

After several years of education and training in ceramics, I have been working on some different porcelain series over the last 2 years and I have had chances to participate in several exhibitions, fairs and open studio events.

My business objectives are:

First of all, I would like to keep developing my artistic talents and reach my financial goals.

Second of all, since I am interested in children’s education, I would like to teach kids to know how fun to make things with their own hands and how worthy hand made is through my classes.

Third of all, I would like to encourage people to use more ceramics than single use plastic items. More clay and less plastic movement is really necessary for our environment.

My learnings from the Crafting Business Programme:

I learnt how to make a business plan to run a profitable business using a wide range of marketing, finance and commercial strategies. 

And I also learnt to be more environmentally conscious at work, for instance, maximizing resources, reducing waste and weight of the products, recycling materiales, choosing reusable packaging accessories, etc..   

Pricing the products was one the most difficult parts for me but I learnt how to price in an effective and profitable way.

Sincerely speaking, I learnt more than I had expected thanks to very qualified teachers and talented and generous classmates based upon a well organised programme.

My 5 top tips that I have learnt on this journey:

• Differentiate the products from competitors.
• Be more environmentally conscious.
• Define your ideal customers and focus on the niche.
• Share the story behind the process of each product to attract the customer.
• Collaborate with other artists.