Maek Ceramics in Ocean Beach is the love child of Michaela Maes and Ryan Shoemaker, who co-own and operate the small business combining both their names and talents.
\nA native Peninsulan and a Point Loma High grad, Ryan and wife Michaela first met in a ceramics class at Point Loma Nazarene University.
\n“I took it as an elective to fulfill a credit,” recalls Michaela, adding, “Then I just fell in love with it: It\u2019s addicting.”
\nWhy ceramics?
\n“You get really functional things out of it that you can use,” she replied.
\nFor Ryan, ceramics is self-expression.
\n“So much of what we do on a daily basis is look at things through a creative lens and reinterpret it,” he said. “Ceramics is a fun way to say, \u2018I\u2019ll make things that you can purchase, and you get to see the whole process.’ We make everything here and sell it ourselves. So it\u2019s just kind of this transparent chain of production, which is fun for me.”
\nWith the help of their folks, the pair moved up to the Bay Area to start their own company about two years ago.\u00a0
\nSince then their fortunes have drawn them back to OB where they\u2019ve inhabited studio space at 1918 Bacon St. since mid-June, they have both been busy crafting mostly custom handmade functional tableware.
\nThey\u2019re first big order was doing tableware for Ryan\u2019s buddies at OB Beans coffeehouse up the street. Business took off from there.
\n“We get a lot of people coming in doing custom orders, or ordering larger (table) sets when they remodel their kitchens,” he said. “Chefs have just started reaching out to us. So we\u2019re getting more restaurants and more small, high-end retail places reaching out. The largest part of what we do is custom sets.”
\nMichaela noted they both share a minimalist perspective on art \u2014 and life.
\n“Our slogan is care more about less,” she said. “Invest in things that are good for the world, and well made, and just have less of them. You don\u2019t need so much stuff when the stuff you have is quality.”
\nAdmittedly, it\u2019s more costly to handcraft ceramic tableware than to mass-produce it. But you get what you pay for, noted Ryan.
\n“When you spend more money on stuff, it\u2019s actually worth it for the people around you,” he said. “What we have are handmade pieces, something nobody else has. OB as a community understands that. People living here spend their money here as an investment that helps local businesses. It\u2019s really refreshing when folks come in here, and they\u2019re really on board with that.”
\nRyan said they buy their clay by the ton. “We go through probably 50 to 100 pounds a day,” he said.
\nMaek sells both online and retail. Ryan noted they have tableware products in stock for sale on their website but added, “There are a few different options.”
\nIn the future, Ryan said he\u2019d like to see Maek branch out more. “In the next few years, we\u2019d love to have a second space to invite people into, where we could have some classes, but also just be a place where people can come. It could be a co-op studio where you pay a fee, then come in and use it.”
\nReferring to other small crafters like themselves as “makers,” both Ryan and Michaela agree there\u2019s more cooperation than competition in OB.
\n“We\u2019ve had a lot of fun partnering with other makers,” Ryan said. “We try to be community-oriented, supporting other local makers.” Maek Ceramics
\n1918 Bacon St.
\nInfo: maekceramics.com, 925-899-3443.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maek Ceramics in Ocean Beach is the love child of Michaela Maes and Ryan Shoemaker, who co-own and operate the small business combining both their names and talents. A native Peninsulan and a Point Loma High grad, Ryan and wife Michaela first met in a ceramics class at Point Loma Nazarene University. “I took it […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":260104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Creating wares that you can use at Maek Ceramics","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}