SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ENTERPRISE : Going in for the Kiln : You-Paint-It Pottery Business Heats Up
Kurt Langenhahn dips his fingers into blue and yellow paint jars, then clumsily covers a cup and saucer with confetti-colored thumbprints.
But don’t get the idea that he’s a grade-schooler making a present for his mother. This 32-year-old script coordinator is among the legions of customers in Southern California helping the paint-your-own pottery business heat up faster than a kiln.
Langenhahn was dirtying his fingers at Studio City’s Paint the Town store, one of at least 18 paint-it-yourself ceramic emporiums that have sprung up in Los Angeles and Orange counties in the last three years.
The creative concept is to set up an airy, well-lit studio where an uninhibited artist selects brushes and paints and creates a personalized design on a ready-made ceramic vase, wine goblet or cheese platter. The pottery is then glazed and fired.
“Last year at this time, there were only about 15 of these stores in the country. Now there are over 50 nationwide,” said Temple Canfield, a New York-based ceramics consultant and supplier. “I already know 10 stores planning to open this year.”
Nowhere in the country has the trend taken off more than in Southern California, Canfield said. The first paint-it-yourself pottery store opened in New York in 1991, but most of the growth has been on the West Coast.
Color Me Mine on La Brea Avenue was the first shop in Los Angeles, opening in 1992 and quickly branching out in Santa Monica and Encino. Two other chains, Mudd Beach and Paint the Town, operate an additional five stores.
Competition among stores is so fierce that they are slashing prices on paint and glaze. The Los Angeles market is close to saturation as prime locations in upscale areas as Santa Monica and Pasadena are snapped up. Three of the shops have set up in the vicinity of Melrose Avenue. Color Me Mine will soon open a another store directly across the street from the Paint the Town store in Beverly Hills.
The ceramic stores attract an eclectic group of customers, primarily women ranging from 25 to 40. The clientele includes parents who come in with their kids and couples on first dates looking for a different way to spend a Friday night.
On a chilly Friday afternoon, sunlight flooded through the windows of Old Town Pasadena’s Mudd Beach store as a mother helped her daughter decorate a ceramic ballerina. A young couple perched on the funky purple-and-orange upholstered stools painted quietly at a nearby table covered with newspapers.
“People are getting tired of buying mass-produced products off the shelf,” said manager Les Collette. “In these stores, you can personalize the item and show people you spent a little time to show you care.”
Although the ambience varies at each store, the process is the same. A customer selects a piece to purchase from more than 200 offerings, ranging from a $6 mug to a $22 cheese board or a $50 fruit platter.
Then colors and stencils are chosen from an array of paints and designs. The painted piece is glazed and fired in a kiln at 1,800 degrees. Your masterpiece can be ready as quickly as 24 hours.
The fees run about $6 per hour for painting plus the price of your object. Depending on how fast you paint, that can add up. One couple said the simple bowl they were decorating had already cost them $70.
At Planet Paint in Brentwood, 2,000 customers a month are plunking their money down for the experience, store owners say. The store, part-owned by television talk show host and former “Beverly Hills 90210” star Gabrielle Carteris, 34, opened last August at a cost of about $100,000. Co-owner Ken Couverley, 45, who also founded the Islands burger restaurant chain, said that after only three months, Planet Paint broke even. A trendy coffee-and-juice bar keeps thirsty painters happy and adds another source of income to the business.
Planet Paint and many other store owners in Los Angeles modeled their business after a New York store called Pull Cart, which opened in 1991. Owner Emily Goodman now also supplies Italian bisque-ware to most of the nation’s stores and does consulting for prospective store owners, along with her partner, Canfield.
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“It’s similar to setting up a restaurant,” Canfield said. “Advertising is minimal because it’s by word of mouth. Cost depends more on how you set it up. How big is the space, where you locate, how much you spend on furniture and lighting. It goes anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000.”
Helping to fuel the growth of the paint-it-yourself pottery stores on the West Coast, they said, are “mom-and-pop” ceramics businesses. Southern California is a center for independent suppliers who produce green-ware and bisque-ware in their homes and garages, then sell it to many of the stores. Duncan Enterprises, based in Fresno, meanwhile, supplies 95% of the nation’s stores with paints and kilns.
Goodman, who has visited many of the stores around the country, said regional trends are emerging as the industry grows. You’re more likely to see knickknacks and Elvis busts on the West Coast, she said, and functional dinnerware and kitchen items on the East Coast.
Goodman also notes that the stores on the West Coast are more service-oriented. As competition intensifies, she believes, more of them will include refreshment counters like Planet Paint or retail and gift shop operations like Mudd Beach.
And stores that can’t stand the heat of competition will close.
“It’s like the frozen yogurt business,” said Paint the Town co-owner David Luner, who left his job at Mattel Inc. to enter the pottery business. “A shakedown will happen soon where stores will begin closing, and only those that are doing things right will survive.”
