Isabel Beldad

I am Isabel, a 32-year-old ceramist. I live in Madrid and at this moment, I have my atelier in my hometown (Villafranca de los Caballeros, Toledo). I plan to move with my atelier close to the seaside when is possible!

I’ve been in ceramics for six years now, learning in different workshops and art schools (Escuela de Cerámica de la Moncloa, Escuela de Arte Ramón Falcón in Lugo, etc.). It was two years ago when I started to run my own ceramic studio and spend more time on this project, showing and selling my work, understanding it as a little business.

I reached this point by being obsessed with the material (clay) and its infinite possibilities. The way to achieve my goals in this area wasn’t easy at all (and it is still this way).

I make fun and colourful ceramics, mainly utilitarian. For me, making ceramics is a celebration, so I always try to have fun when I’m working with clay. I’d like that my clients feel the same about my work, I want my ceramics to cheer their daily life! Their little celebrations of the day-by-day.

My business objectives are:

I’d like it to be sustainable over time. It doesn’t need to be my full-time job, but at least, my part-time job.  I want my business/activity to continue throughout my life, prevail with me, and I want the same for my inspiration and desire! For this goal, my work needs to be self-sufficient, so I will put my long-time efforts into it.

I prefer durability rather than intensity.

My learnings from the Crafting Business Programme:

The main learning: we should spend at least half of our working time on business activities such as communications, finance, etc. And the other half for production. The importance of creating a well-constructed brand in order to sell.

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

1. I learnt about finance, an exotic field.
2. I learnt to value a little more my work and crafts in general. Especially from a customer-facing perspective. Reinforcing the idea of not being afraid of pricing decently, as the product deserves. Knowing that there are people who will value it and pay for it.
3. I learnt that I am not alone in my studio with my dreams and difficulties, there are many other craftspeople that are at the same point as me! This is not an easy job but this course, without a doubt, feeds our faith and gives us a sense of community, something very good for our mostly-lonely work in the studio.
4. I’ve learnt to catalogue my production, order it well to be able to systematize in some way and, above all, present it properly on the website. The website that I’m designing will be the result of all this mental and business structure that the course helped me to generate.
5. I’ve also learned to identify my value proposition and many other details for the day-by-day of business.