Te Awamutu's Nicole Joyce sculpts pottery business after following a creative interest

Nicole's pottery pieces include plates, bowls, cups and vases. Photo / Supplied

A creative interest has taken off for one Te Awamutu local with her pottery products proving to be quite popular.

Nicole Joyce, an ex-primary school teacher, only started taking pottery lessons last May.

By April this year she had launched her own business - Mountain View Pottery.

"I'd always seen it as something that looked quite interesting, especially wheel throwing pottery," says Nicole.

Nicole got her start at the former Studio Two in Te Awamutu, when that closed she started going through to the Waikato Society of Potters in Hamilton for lessons.

It was a friend, who owned a gift shop in Kihikihi, who sparked the idea for Nicole to start selling her creations.

Nicole's pottery pieces include plates, bowls, cups and vases. Photo / Supplied

"She really liked some of my vases and said that they would probably sell in her shop – which they did," says Nicole.

"So that's how the business started, I began with promoting and advertising on Facebook but now I have a website."

She also attended her first market day last month and will be at the Cambridge Farmers Market this Saturday at Victoria Square.

Her products include cups, bowls, plates and vases.

She has also made some Christmas decorations including a ceramic Christmas tree and stars.

Nicole has started to make Christmas decorations too. Photo / Supplied.

These decorations as well as her usual products are also stocked at In House Collective – a Christmas pop-up shop in Te Awamutu showcasing more than 30 local creatives products.

Nicole has noticed that there are certain colours and finishes people tend to favour.

"There are certain products with certain glazes that sell really well, for example large cups with an ice blue glaze over teal is popular," says Nicole.

She makes everything in her garage studio at home using her electric Shimpo pottery wheel; she then takes her pottery to the Waikato Society of Potters to use the kiln there.

Every piece of pottery Nicole makes is unique and different from the others she says.

"The thing with pottery is that I can't always tell what the finish product will look like. It depends on how long I dip it for, how many layers of paint I put on and where it sits in
the kiln as to what will be produced," says Nicole.

"I don't attempt to make anything look exactly the same, none of my pieces are the same – they are all one-offs."