Studio opening

Hello all, Chase here.

We are very happy to announce that we finally have our certificate of occupancy and are now operating the studio in full swing. Those of you who have not had your member orientation yet, please reach out immediately so you can gain access to the space!

Although the doors are open, there's a lot left to be done in order to make the space improve to a level of quality we are happy with. I will go over those items below.

1. More wedging tables. We already identified that we want to put at least two more wedging tables in the space. Unfortunately, with the inspections and other pitfalls that were consuming our time in these last few weeks, we did not have time to put those in by the time we opened. They will be completed this Friday 8/21. One will be by the sink, another by the tool area, and lastly a smaller one by the back door.
2. "I thought we would have a back patio area to throw on?" You will! We were being told by the city that there was a back building beautification process underway, were told to collaborate with other business owners first. We have now done so, and are moving forward with the back area renovation. It will feature benches, planters, and a table to throw at. There will be RFID lanyards by the back right door, which will allow you to exit and enter when utilizing the back space. Please put the RFID lanyard back whenever you are done. If one goes missing, we will have to lock the back door until it is found.
3. The water fountains will be repaired. The plumber graciously disassembled them to "fix them" and has not returned yet. Therefore we are left with the mess. I will fix them in soon.
4. "Where are the wire tools?" Not sure, they must've grown legs during the move. I made a lot of them tonight, and they'll be in the space tomorrow (8/18).
5. Both sinks in the back have low water pressure when they both are turned on at once. Another dastardly deed performed by the infamous plumber we had the unfortunate pleasure of having on this build out. He installed a single half inch line for hot/cold water and expected it to fuel both sinks. I am going to re-plumb that Friday. Catching a theme with the plumber?

There are some other cosmetic things were focusing on, too. We want the space to feel like a community hang out, and decoration and vibe is a huge part of that. We just were very focused on the functional part first. We are kind of hoping you guys can donate some pottery for us to display! That would be very authentic and would make us both so happy to see.

Overall, we are so happy to be open, and we are even more happy to see all of you come into the space wide eyed at all the improvements. We have a little ways to go to get it to our vision of a new space, but for now it is a great start. Some of you that volunteered know just how many hours I poured into working on the studio. I made a shout out in another blog post, but I have to once again give gratitude to the volunteers who showed up in the snow and in the heat. It was really a humbling feeling to see so many come together to help. I can't buy you enough beer to pay you back!

In the coming months, please be heavy on the feedback & suggestions. Just because we are tired and glad to open the doors, does NOT mean we are done putting in work. We want to know what isn't working about the new space so we can address it quickly and make it better. Running the studio is a full time job, and it requires constant reformulating, thinking, and perspective on strategy to make it run well.

If you haven't done so already, say hello to our assistant studio manager Caroline. You'll see her running the front store, doing date nights, and kiln operations. We also have a cleaner who stops by to mop and throw pottery from time to time! Her name is Carlisle and she is new to the crew.

Great to be back.