A lifelong love of ceramics has led one Bangor artist to take the leap from teaching into running her own pottery studio in the heart of the city.
Her journey into ceramics began at just 15 years old, when she started a work experience placement with Cula Ceramics. On her way home from school, she would get off the bus and spend time helping prepare clay and make pottery. At the time, she had no idea that those afternoons would shape the course of her career.
“I didn’t realise that this was the start of it all,” she says. “I had got the bug for making pottery.”
Over the following four years, she continued helping Cula Ceramics and other local makers before going on to study for a degree in Ceramics, graduating with First Class Honours.
Her passion for the craft soon took her further afield. Keen to gain experience and explore new places, she contacted pottery studios across Europe about internship opportunities. Her efforts led to an opportunity in Copenhagen with renowned potter Eric Landon.
What was initially intended to be a two-week trial quickly became a four-month stay. Over the next two years, she travelled back and forth to the Danish capital, working alongside makers and becoming deeply inspired by the city’s creative community.
“I fell in love with the city and the makers I worked with there,” she says. “I was so inspired.”
Returning home, she began working as a teaching assistant before training as an art teacher. She has now spent almost five years working in education, but ceramics remained a constant presence in her life.
At weekends and during school holidays, she continued making pottery, keeping alive the passion that had begun all those years ago.
However, with her latest teaching contract due to end in June 2026, she found herself facing an uncertain future once again. The prospect of starting at another school – only to potentially face the same uncertainty the following year – became increasingly daunting.
It was then that she approached the business advisers at Go Succeed to ask whether turning her pottery into a business could be a realistic option.
To her surprise, they encouraged her to take the leap and helped her establish the foundations of her new venture.
“It was the most terrifying decision I have ever made, but also the best decision I have made,” she says.
Today, her new studio at 19 Grays Hill, Bangor, is becoming a home for pottery, creativity and community. The space offers memberships and workshops, alongside a limited selection of handmade ceramic pieces for sale.
Rather than simply being a place to make and sell pottery, the studio has been created around collaboration and community – something she says has made the response from local people particularly meaningful.
“It is collaborative and community-based and I feel so warmly welcomed. I find it very emotional.”
The studio has now been open for nearly a month, and the response from the people of Bangor has already been encouraging. Locals have shown a keen interest in discovering more about the craft, while many have simply popped into the shop to say hello and offer their support.
For the new business owner, that welcome has reinforced the decision she made earlier this year.
After beginning her journey with clay at 15, studying ceramics, working abroad, teaching and continuing to make pottery whenever she could, she has finally created a space where her two worlds can come together.
“I am very proud of what I have achieved and get to do something I love every day.”
From a teenager getting off the school bus to help prepare clay, to opening the doors of her own pottery studio in Bangor, it seems the passion that first took hold all those years ago has finally come full circle.
For more information, visit www.drysdaleceramics.com.
