POTTERS RETAIL SHOP, AND SOUTH WALES AND WEST COUNTRY CERAMICS COOPERATIVE: Established in 1996, POTTERS is a shop/gallery run by the marketing co-operative South Wales and West Country Ceramics Collective Limited. We are located on Perry Road, near Park Street, part of the Christmas Steps Arts Quarter – the creative district of Bristol.  Over the years many members of our cooperative have benefited from being involved:  They have stressed that having their work in a retail environment over an extended period of time has allowed them to build up a customer base, and used the shop as a venue for market research. Makers have the opportunity to learn what customers want and use this to inform and inspire them. Customers appreciate the fact that having members working in the shop is our USP.  About a quarter of our members have been with us since our foundation in 1996, with others who have more recently joined us.  We have found that even short-term membership is beneficial and would like to encourage this. POTTERS is now 25 years old, and has a wealth of knowledge, benefits and is established as a place of ceramic excellence within the South West.The eight days of working in the shop a year is equivalent to one day every six weeks. Members can bring work to the shop to make or finish if limited equipment is required, and restock and redisplay their work whilst on duty. In this way stewarding becomes more productive.POTTERS has a website, webshop, Facebook and Instagram, and sends out press releases for activities and special exhibitions.  It has an e-news group of nearly 400 addresses. Gallery owners from across the UK visit POTTERS and are provided with contact details of our members for exhibition invitations. The website is seen by tens of thousands of customers each year and our Google Business page is visited by customers in a broad area.By referring to our website www.pottersbristol.com you may find a list of our members.

Membership T&Cs

The following information is our selection procedure and obligations of membership.  By referring to our website www.pottersbristol.com you may find a list of our members.     

Selection                                                                                                                                        

The Selection Committee considers the submission of candidates and may accept, reject or defer decision in order to make provisos or suggest alterations to the applicant’s submission. The criteria for selection are:The workmanship should be of a high professional standardThe work is demonstrable to us and our customers as being designed and created by individual makers or partnerships - not mass produced The work is priced appropriately relative to the work of other members and do not closely approximate in style the work of existing member. The work is not be on permanent sale elsewhere, within 3miles of Potters, within Bristol*, or online within Bristol except for your own online shop, with the exception of temporary exhibitions. *Unless approved by committee.  The work has commercial potential - it should appeal to a reasonable number of our customers.    

                    Submission                                                                                                                                                

Please submit five typical pieces of work marked with their retail prices. If you make different types of work and feel that a limit of five is inadequate to show your range, please include images and. information about yourself, including leaflets or publicity if you wish. Please ring to notify us when you will deliver your submission. We are open Tuesday to Saturdays, 10.15-5.30.  

  

Obligations                                                                                                                                                             

A co-op is a legal structure. A member’s liability for debts incurred by the co-op is limited to £1.                                      Currently members work eight (7.5 hour) days each year for the co-op without pay. However, a half day’s credit is given for attending the Annual General Meeting which is held on a Sunday afternoon in the Spring. Also, members may pay another member minimum wage to work in their stead, resulting in a possible extra expenditure or, indeed, a source of income to those members who have the time to spare.                                                                                                          The co-operative’s rate of commission on sales is 40%.  If you accept the Selection Committee’s invitation to exhibit with us, a £100 deposit is required upon delivery of your first consignment of stock. At a meeting of Council held no less than three months after your work has been on sale at POTTERS, your membership will be eligible for ratification.  If you are successful, your deposit becomes a non-refundable investment. However, should you wish to withdraw from exhibiting or the Council feel that your membership should not be ratified your deposit and your unsold work will be returned to you along with money earned through your sales less commission. This provision of membership ratification is a reflection of commercial necessity. Sometimes, should the business need a boost of funds towards it’s running costs, members are asked to pay a subscription of £40, on average this should happen once a year or less, but is dependent on circumstance. Members are obligated to keep POTTERS fully stocked while they are a member, after your own shop, the cooperative should be replenished. This includes seasonally and when you are not able to attend a shift. If your stock becomes low then the Manager has the right to remove your stock from display.  

Do not hesitate to contact me with any further queries you may have or visit us to have a chat.                                                                                                                                           Shop Manager  pottersbristol@gmail.com 0117 330 8445