SKT Ceramics
Cincinnati native, Susannah Tisue, has always been attracted to the hustle and bustle of urban life. Growing up near downtown Cincinnati, Susannah spent a lot of time at Findlay Market as a child and as she got older. After graduating from New York University, Susannah had a three-year artist residency at Greenwich House Pottery in Manhattan’s West Village and then went on to create SKT Ceramics in Brooklyn.
Susannah got her start in a popup tent at the Brooklyn Flea selling her pottery pieces. “The great thing about that was getting my work in front of hundreds of people every weekend and getting a response to see what illustrations they were hoping for,” says Susannah.
Because of her exposure in the Brooklyn Flea, Susannah was able to develop the product based on her customer’s feedback to the pieces that she was making. Despite her love for the city, Susannah gets her inspiration from the natural world to provide a counterbalance between the chaos of an urban environment and the calming, meditative landscapes.
After six years in New York, Susannah made the move back to Cincinnati where she now has a permanent home for SKT Studio at Findlay Market and her brand new studio space in Walnut Hills.
Susannah and her husband bought and renovated a 1910 theater building in Walnut Hills that now serves as SKT’s Ceramic studio and gallery space, in addition to her husband’s wood shop, Century Design Workshop.
“We love the idea of still maintaining a studio in the urban core setting,” says Susannah. Along with her studio space in Walnut Hills and Findlay Market, Susannah has an online shop and wholesale business that she sells to about 100 retail shops around the country.
To Susannah, Findlay Market is the cultural core of Cincinnati where people from all different walks of life come together. After her first weekend at Findlay Market, Susannah was hooked instantly and knew that this was the new home for SKT Ceramics.
“I loved the community and vibrancy of the area,” Susannah begins, “I love that I’m so much part of the market (with the rollup space). I’m just a stone's throw away from the smell of Makers Bakers’ cinnamon rolls.” Susannah has loved getting to meet the individual shop owners and learning of their passions while also connecting on a personal level with her customers.
Despite her business growth feeling gradual over the years, Susannah says that the growth and change is an extreme switch to her customers who first met her in her early days in the pop up tent at Findlay Market. “It’s fun to look back and see how much we have invested in the market but also how the market and community have invested in us.” One of the most exciting additions to the market booth this year is that Susannah and her team are screen printing her textiles in front of customers to share the process with them.
“Family,” is what Susannah describes of her staff team. “Every single person on our team has a specialized role.” There are SKT staff members who have been with the company since Susannah and her husband moved to Cincinnati in 2016. As a company, Susannah says that it’s important to allow the staff to continue to pursue artistic techniques in order to hone and improve their skills. “Everyone’s opinions are valid, and as their skills develop, our company is lifted up by the quality of their work that we’re putting out.”
For having spaces in both Findlay Market and Walnut Hills, Susannah is excited to be a part of the community and to use her work as a way to bring joy into people’s lives. “For me, when I first started making my pottery pieces, the idea was a calming, meditative landscape that you could enjoy after a chaotic day at work, and also through the vessel of these pieces, providing employment for local artists and providing a sense of community to anyone who passes through the market doors.”
Published November 2021