Potter from Sudbury, Ont., finds early success with work featured in Vanity Fair

Three years ago, Amanda Payette had never even touched pottery clay.

Now, the Sudbury, Ont., mother of two has her own ceramics studio. And magazines like Vanity Fair and the World of Interiors recently featured her work in their holiday gift guides.

In early 2020, after her second child was born, Payette quit her job in health care, where she says she was unhappy, to pursue pottery.

"I was going out on a whim because I had never even touched clay before I had children," she said.

That chance paid off. She purchased a pottery wheel, a couple of kilnsand converted part of her basement into a studio.

Payette learned how to make pieces by watching how-to YouTube videos and following potters she admired.

Apart from friends and family, one of her first customers was Sudbury's Crosscut Distillery.

"They were doing a pop-up market right before the holidays and they had me join for free," Payette said.

"That's when I started selling my first pieces and it was very encouraging to have that local support. From then on I started selling to the public."

Payette built a following on Instagram where she connected with customers directly under her Whiteloft Ceramics brand.

Later in 2020, the business had grown enough she was able to support her family when her husband's job faced new challenges due to the pandemic.

Her husband, Cole Payette, owns a gym, and faced intermittent closures due to public health restrictions.

Amanda Payette uses her pottery wheel

2 years ago

Duration 0:44

Sudbury's Amanda Payette shows how she creates one or her pieces. Her ceramics work has been featured in Vanity Fair and The World of Interiors.Video credit: Jonathan Migneault/CBC

"For the most part, you know, in 2020 we were shut down for about two years," he said. "She was kind of our main income at that time like right when she first started."

Cole said Amanda's decision to start a pottery studio was the best thing she ever did.

"I've never seen her so happy, so fulfilled. She enjoys every second that she gets to do it," he said.

In December,Payette received an email from Vogue, in London, that promised to benefit her business. At first she didn't believe it was legitimate, but Cole encouraged her to give them a call.

Through that conversation, Vogue's publisher, Cond Nast, has featured its pieces in two of its publications Vanity Fair and The World of Interiors, a magazine with a devoted following amongst designers.

Payette said she could have opportunities to be featured in two more Cond Nast publications: Vogue and Glamour.

"They said that they came across me organically on Instagram," she said. "And they loved my pieces, and they thought that it really fit their style."

Payette said she likes to use simple shapes, and more muted and natural tones for her pieces.

"I am not into bright [colours] myself, so that's just what I stick with," she said.

The hope is that her pieces won't go out of style due to their simplicity.

Since her work was featured in the magazines, she said, her social media presence has grown. She now has more than 32,000 followers on Instagram.

Payette said she ships her ceramics across the U.S.,and has a growing number of customers in the U.K. as well.