San Francisco ceramicist Nina Saltman, cofounder of sfclayworks, created an inspired riff on the Little Free Libraries (“take a book, leave a book”) that have popped up across the nation. Nina’s Little Pott Shoppe is a tiny outdoor vitrine that offers her handmade cups and bowls for free. It’s a way she can give away “seconds”— pieces with minor flaws— and bring joy and serendipity to passersby.
She built a charming cabinet-with-doll house-overtones and painted it like her own house, with a faux painted wood floor and little handmade planters on the outside…
She affixed it to the streetside wall of her garden and left a sign inside inviting passersby to take a piece — for free.
She asked only that they leave behind a note for her. (She included a stack of blank cards and a pen to make it easy.)
She never imagined how much her little offerings would affect people.
I must have given away at least 50 pots and have gotten over 50 notes from people…
The notes are the best thing.
So many people wounded from so much heartache about so many things. I am fortunate to have some joy to share.
…
Several months in, Nina began to run low on pots. So she asked some artists she knows if they’d like to participate. Hawaii-based artist Sara-Lee Chun was the first, offering her charming small scale paintings…
Nina said the idea “just happened” during a conversation with her niece Sara Yukimoto-Saltman…
…They reimagined the Little Free LIbraries and mightily expanded possibilities…
…and JOY.
Follow Nina and the Little Pott Shoppe at her instagram @saltmannina.
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What a wonderful surprise to read this just after pouring a cup of coffee in one of her beautiful mugs I purchased years ago at an Open Studio. Beautiful craft and beautiful person.