Studio Celebrates 5th Year of Helping Create Memories

Five years later, Paint Your Own Pottery Studio President Vaishali Patel remembers her first customers.

They entered 290 West Main St. mere days after an ice storm.

"We had lost electricity here. On Dec. 13, I still ended up coming in, even though we had no electricity, just in case any customers came. I remember my first customer sitting at that table right up there. It was a mom and daughter. And I lit up a candle for them. And they sat at this table and they painted a plate,"  Patel says.

"It was the best memory I could have. And I love it. Because I helped them make a memory, and they made a memory that lasted a lifetime in my life also."

The Paint Your Own Pottery Studio was inspired by family's memorable moments.

"I told my husband I was pregnant on a plate. Our first Mother's Day. Our first Father's Day. Paint your own pottery has always been a memory making item for us," Patel says.

"I knew there was only one time a wife can surprise her husband. I had been on a business trip. My husband was on a business trip. I painted a plate that said, 'You're going to be a perfect dad.'"

Patel says she had been working in the corporate world. And when her son turned one, she wanted to spend more time with him while still being a businesswoman.

She started thinking about opening a business, and "the first thing that popped into my head was a paint your own pottery studio."

The studio celebrated its fifth anniversary during a snowstorm earlier this month, she says.

Another memory, like so many that the studio has seen since it opened.

"We have become part of this community. We are so lucky. I always say we have the best staff and the best customers anybody could ever ask for. This community has made us part of their family," Patel says.

"We come into the studio. Customers come in, and the first thing that custimers do is give us hugs. We know the memories that they're making. We know that they're painting for their sister. We know their families. We know them."

The studio started with, and remains focused on, pottery, she says.

In mid-July, Paint Your Own Pottery added a glass station "where customers come in and make beautiful glass pieces," Patel says.

Custom work, and transforming also take wine bottles into cheeseboards, also have been added to the studio's offerings over time, she says.

There are plans to expand the glass offerings, and offer more finished work, she says.

Patel says the studio wants to "help create more memories" in 2014.

"We want to get the word out there that we're here, and we want people to come join us," Patel says.