Still Life Ceramics
DTLA || Santa Monica
Crafting a new, robust e-commerce site for a rising star in the world of ceramic goods and student classes in the art industry.
|| 01 Context
Drawing their unique inspiration from architecture, nature and culture, Still Life Ceramics combines hands-on teaching with a synergy of commerce in a style entirely unheard of in the world of handcrafted tableware. Knowing their current online store was not communicating an aesthetic that spoke to their diverse, curious consumer, Still Life Ceramics contacted cc Studios to create a new online store/teaching space that reflected their artistic but forward-thinking values of their California-based brand.
Our boutique team took on the task and began to think of the best way to convey their sense of artistic authenticity and integrity yet also deliver to their ceramic students a vehicle that could, during a unprecedented time of a global pandemic, provide not only a learning space but a place of grounding and community.
|| 02 Challenges
How to stay in business and also grow a brand. At the onset of this seemingly monumental task, cc Studios also had to accept the reality that if we did not relaunch the Still Life Ceramics website quickly and retool their school and class offerings to strictly online, we ran the risk of seeing our newest client suffer extreme financial losses. Add to the fact that their brick-n-mortar studio locations were forced to lockdown, online learning was the only outlet for their ceramic art community.
Suffice it to say we pulled it off and then some. SLC (as we refer to them) Not only managed to be online and fully digital in less than 6 weeks, but our creative approach and quick thinking moved each of their physical classes and workshops to Zoom sessions and this female-owned partnership saw a steady return of their students and, by the end of the pandemic in 2021, their LA studios were in full swing and we transitioned from online learning to in-person in a matter of days.
|| The Growing Experience
Still Life Ceramics and Still Life Studio remains a constant in our roster of unique brands with semi-annual requests to update and refresh their online stores to maintain their messaging and to highlight new, signature ceramic designs and featured artist workshops and class offerings.
In the fall of 2023 SLC became on of our latest Shopify Plus, advanced e-commerce merchants with the need for multiple expansion stores to be built under the main Still Life Ceramics organization. This meant our small yet mighty team was required to design and develop four additional online stores all mirroring one another for each of their brick-n-mortar locations; Santa Monica, CA, downtown Los Angeles, Ferndale, Michigan and one store dedicated exclusively to their online, recurring memberships. This was no small task however and was to the credit of our astute developers to see this undertaking be accomplished in a short window of less than six weeks. Still Life Ceramics now boasts the highest grossing year since contracting cc Studios, slated to reach revenues of 2M in 2024.