Why I Chose Ceramics as My Full-Time Career
Updated: Oct 19
If you had told me a few years ago that I would one day be working full-time from my own pottery studio, creating handmade ceramics and building a business around them, I probably wouldn't have known exactly how I would get there.
But I did know one thing - I always wanted to build a business of my own.
I wanted to create something that reflected my ideas and creativity, and build a business around products I had made with my own hands.
I spent more than nine years working in the corporate world. It gave me stability, experience and, most importantly, skills that I continue to use today. I learnt how to communicate professionally, work with people, understand different aspects of a business and gained experience in digital marketing.
I value everything those years taught me. And today, many of those learnings have become an important part of how I build and run CraftsByCharu.
I didn't start with pottery
Before ceramics came into my life, I had already tried turning my creativity into a business.
I started making handmade scrapbooks under the name CraftsByCharu. I enjoyed the process of creating something myself and turning an idea into a physical product. But eventually, I realized that the market demand wasn't enough for me to build the kind of business I had imagined.
So, that idea didn't work out.
But CraftsByCharu stayed.
More importantly, the idea behind it stayed too.
I still wanted to create a business where the products weren't simply sourced or resold. I wanted to make them myself. I wanted my creativity and my hands to be part of whatever I eventually built.
I just hadn't found the right medium yet.
Then I discovered pottery
Like many discoveries these days, mine started with a few reels.
I began seeing videos of people working with clay and making pottery, and something about the process caught my attention.
But I didn't immediately decide, This is it. I'm going to become a ceramic artist.
If I was going to build a business around something I made myself, I first needed to know whether I actually enjoyed making it.
So, I attended a couple of pottery workshops.
Those workshops weren't just about trying a new activity for me. I was testing something much bigger:
Could I see myself doing this over and over again?
The answer was yes.
And that's when I decided to learn pottery properly.
I never learnt pottery as a hobby
When I started learning pottery, my intention was clear from the beginning.
I wanted to turn it into a business.
That doesn't mean I immediately knew what my products would look like, what my collections would be, or how I would eventually build CraftsByCharu. There was still a lot I had to learn.
And pottery definitely didn't come easily.
Something as fundamental as centering clay on the wheel took me around two to three months to figure out.
There are different techniques for centering, and I learnt that not every technique works for every person. I had to keep practicing until I found the way that worked for me.
Slowly, I started getting it.
Then I became more comfortable making simple forms.
And somewhere during that process, I realized something important.
I wasn't forcing myself to learn.
Even when something wasn't working, I was always excited to go back to class. I wanted to practice again. I wanted to understand what had gone wrong. I wanted to make the next piece better.
As my skills improved, my confidence did too.
That confidence was probably my first real hint that yes, I could do this and perhaps I could build a business around it.
Learning pottery and building a business at the same time
Once I became more confident about pursuing ceramics professionally, I didn't wait until I had mastered everything before starting to think about the business.
While I was still learning, I started experimenting with products and designs.
I bought the domain for CraftsByCharu and created a very basic website. Then, slowly, I kept working on it.
Just like my pottery, the website and brand evolved gradually.
I began understanding the kind of handmade ceramics I wanted to create, experimenting with forms, colours, techniques and designs, and eventually developing a visual language that felt like mine.
Nature became a significant part of that language - mountains, valleys, wildflowers, trees, animals and little details from landscapes that had stayed with me.
The more I created, the more CraftsByCharu began to feel like an actual ceramics business rather than just an idea I had in my head.
But getting it out into the world didn't happen quite as planned.
The first collection that I never launched
My first collection was supposed to launch on 23rd March 2026 - my birthday.
My husband and I had planned it together, and the date made the launch even more special.
I created the batch.
But when the pieces were finally ready, I wasn't happy with their quality.
I had a choice.
I could launch because I had already spent the time making everything and had planned the launch around a date that meant something to me.
Or I could accept that the work wasn't ready.
I chose not to launch.
It was disappointing, but I didn't want the excitement of starting my business to become more important than the quality of the work I was putting my name on.
So, I started again.
I created another batch.
And on 30th April 2026 - my husband's birthday - CraftsByCharu officially went live with its first collection.
In a way, I'm glad the first launch didn't happen as planned.
It taught me very early in my ceramics business that sometimes starting again is better than putting something into the world simply because you have already invested time in it.
I knew I would eventually move on from my corporate career - just not that soon
While all of this was happening, I was still working my corporate job.
My long-term plan was always to leave.
But I wanted to do it practically.
I wanted to reach a point where I had enough financial backup before leaving a stable career and moving into ceramics full-time.
Then, in June 2026, I was laid off.
Suddenly, the decision I had been planning for sometime in the future was right in front of me.
I could start looking for another corporate role.
Or I could give CraftsByCharu the one thing I hadn't been able to give it until then:
all of my time.
I chose the latter.
I felt that perhaps this was the push I needed.
Instead of going back to another corporate job, I decided to give ceramics and my business a real chance.
What being a full-time ceramic artist actually looks like
Working with ceramics full-time isn't just spending the day peacefully making pots on a wheel.
There is the making, of course - throwing, trimming, decorating, glazing, testing and firing.
But there is also product development, photography, packaging, shipping, client communication, website updates, content creation, markets, planning collections and constantly figuring out what the business needs next.
Some pieces don't turn out the way I imagined.
Some experiments fail.
Ceramics can be unpredictable, and sometimes you spend days working on something only to lose it somewhere in the process.
But despite all of that, the work doesn't feel like a burden to me.
I'm always excited about creating something new for the next collection.
There is always another form I want to try, another design in my head or another idea I want to turn into clay.
And that feeling matters to me.
A journey I couldn't have built alone
While CraftsByCharu started with my dream of building something of my own, my husband has played an equally important role in bringing that dream to life. He has been involved right from the beginning, from helping me choose the brand name and build the website to working through the countless little details that go into starting a business. Photography has always been his hobby, and he has an incredible eye for it. He personally photographed my products and patiently shared his knowledge with me, helping me develop my own photography skills along the way. What means the most to me is that he has always treated CraftsByCharu with as much care and dedication as I do. His contribution goes far beyond encouragement; he has invested his time, creativity and effort into making this business what it is today. I may be the one making the ceramics, but CraftsByCharu wouldn't be where it is today without him.
Am I making a profitable living from ceramics yet? No.
I think this is an important part of my story to share because creative career changes are often talked about only after everything has worked out.
I'm still very much in the building stage.
I have invested a lot into learning pottery, setting up my home pottery studio in Ahmedabad, buying materials and equipment, developing products, building my website, packaging, participating in markets and everything else that comes with starting a handmade ceramics business.
Right now, I'm not making a profit. I'm still far from it.
And yet, I'm beginning to see new opportunities.
More people are discovering my work. I'm participating in markets, meeting customers in person, receiving new enquiries and finding opportunities that didn't exist when I started.
I know building a sustainable business takes time.
My hope is that eventually CraftsByCharu will reach a stage where the business covers its costs and begins generating profits.
I'm not there yet.
But I'm building towards it.
So, why did I choose ceramics as my full-time career?
Not because it was the safest option.
Definitely not because it promised quick financial success.
And not because every day as a ceramic artist is easy.
I chose it because I genuinely enjoy the work that goes into it.
I like creating with my hands. I like taking an idea that exists only in my head and slowly turning it into something tangible. I like experimenting with new forms and developing collections. And I like knowing that the business I'm building is centered around something I have actually created myself.
More than anything, I feel content with my working life now.
I wake up knowing that my time and energy are going towards building something of my own.
And I can see myself doing this for the rest of my life.
I don't know exactly how long it will take me to recover everything I've invested or reach the level of profitability I want. I don't know exactly what CraftsByCharu will look like five or ten years from now.
There is still a long way to go.
But I know that I'm excited to find out.
For now, I get to walk into my studio, sit at my pottery wheel and continue building the life and business I once imagined - and that feels like exactly where I’m meant to be.
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