The Business Side of Laima Ceramics
A transparent look at how our studio sustains itself
Running a ceramics studio is often romanticized — clay-dusted hands, glowing kilns, quiet mornings in the studio. While those moments are real and deeply meaningful to us, Laima Ceramics is also a complex, multi-layered business, with several income streams working together to create stability.
We decided to share some numbers — especially for fellow makers and creatives who often ask what actually keeps a studio like ours running.
Where Our Income Comes From
At present (2025), Laima Ceramics’ income is divided into three main areas:
Courses, Workshops & Experiences — 26%
Just over a quarter of our income comes from in-person educational and experiential offerings, including:
One-day classes (like hand-building workshop, cup workshop, etc)
Pottery residencies
Two-week structured courses and July Potter Wellness Course
Short workshops, excursions, and studio experiences
Holistic horse lessons and courses
These activities are time-intensive, but deeply aligned with our values: sharing knowledge, slowing down, and creating meaningful connections between people, place, and craft.
Ceramic Sales — 60%
Ceramics remain the heart of the studio and represent the largest portion of our income.
This segment is split almost evenly:
~50% retail (direct-to-customer sales via this website and our Etsy page)
~50% wholesale (shops, cafés, and hospitality partners)
Retail allows for direct relationships and storytelling.
Wholesale provides consistency, larger volumes, and long-term partnerships.
Together, they create balance.
Potter-Specific Products & Digital Resources — 14%
The remaining portion comes from resources made by potters, for potters, including:
Glaze powders and materials
Glaze eBooks
Online glaze courses
Studio tools such as bisque molds
Linen aprons designed for potters
This income stream has grown slowly but steadily and plays an important role in diversifying risk, especially during quieter seasons.
Local Roots, International Reach
From day one, Laima Ceramics has worked with an international audience.
Currently, around 20% of our income comes from clients in Latvia, while approximately 80% comes from international sources — including exported ceramics and international course participants.
That 20% local figure is not as straightforward as it seems.
Many of our Latvian retail partners — including galleries and shops such as those in Riga and Riga Airport — serve a largely international clientele. Visitors often discover our work while traveling and carry it home, meaning a portion of what appears as “local” income is, in reality, global.
In other words, even when our ceramics are sold in Latvia, they often end up far beyond it.
Why We’re Sharing This
We’re sharing this openly because diversification has been essential to the studio’s resilience. During the pandemic, when much of the retail world paused — restaurants closed, hospitality orders disappeared, and international visitors had to cancel travel plans — many of the spaces that usually carried our work were suddenly unavailable.
What allowed Laima Ceramics not only to continue, but to actively thrive, was the combination of multiple income streams already in place. While wholesale slowed, direct sales through our website and Etsy more than tripled, supported by an international audience that could no longer travel but still wanted meaningful, well-made objects in their daily lives.
Having courses, digital resources, and direct-to-customer sales alongside wholesale meant the studio was not dependent on a single channel. That balance didn’t just help us survive uncertainty — it allowed us to keep working, investing, and growing when circumstances were unpredictable.
