School Profile
Clover Studio was started by Clover Lee, a pottery hobbyist and now the proud owner of Clover Studio in Wimbledon. Clover was also a finalist of The Great Pottery Throwdown in 2017. Her works are largely influenced by traditional Chinese and Japanese culture, inspired by the interaction of nature and human to promote flow of energy and harmony. Clover is incredibly talented, like all our pottery teachers, but what makes her special is her willingness to pass on her skills to others.
Clover's relationship with clay all started from a taster throwing workshop 7 years ago. Just like love at first sight, she felt synchronised with the potter’s wheel from that moment on. With the opportunities to learn her pottery skills in her spare time, thanks to all the people and organisations who support adult education in art and craft, Clover was able to take part in the Great Pottery Throw Down 2017, where she went through to the final and even made a functional toilet.
Most importantly, the experience transformed Clover from not knowing what to do with pottery, to becoming a full time potter, dedicating a significant amount of time to teaching, as a way to give back to those organisations and individuals that guided and supported her over the years.
Clover's vision was to create a space where learners can enjoy a calm and peaceful environment in a small group. Using tailored teaching methods, she gives individual support, to give every student a creative outlet and a way to unwind while also learning a new skill.
The Challenge
Setting up a studio wasn't easy. With her original partner Emilia, Clover and Emilia chose to base their studio at one of ACAVA’s buildings (Association for Cultural Advancement through Visual Arts) because they are an educational charity and share the vision for the promotion of artistic skills. Since then, Clover has moved her studio to Wimbledon Art Studios and gone solo. Clover's studio is situated among others and she loves the creative and friendly environment that being in an artistic community that this provides. Clover Studio is equipped with two potter’s wheels, a kiln and plenty of materials for ceramic making.
Clover has also taken part in pottery festivals in the past, like Hey Clay Merton Arts Festival, and a weekend of Open Studios, showcasing the best work made by us and our students. This gave Clover an opportunity to meet and connect with lots of folks in the local community.
Every day is different. On some days, all wheels are out and working hard to facilitate pottery classes. On other days, every inch of space in the studio is used to host drying clay for previous students who eagerly await collection 2-3 weeks after their class.
With a successful studio, and students piling in, Clover came to Obby to help her manage students and take payments online. Until working with Obby, Clover managed all students and payments via email and bank transfer, causing an agonising amount of admin that she could have spent teaching, throwing, firing or glazing!
Clover also hoped to have more regular classes, and make individual booking more flexible.
The Solution
Clover Studio joined Obby in order to take secure payments online, and manage her students. Using Obby's tools such as automated booking and reminder emails, and customer relationship management, Clover was better able to handle the numbers of students booking.
Taking secure payments via Obby meant that Clover was safe int eh knowledge that both hers and her student's money was secure. As well as being better able to track her income with Obby's Income tracking tool.
Clover also made use of Obby's Flexitime feature, which allows students to book anytime they want from the teacher's pre-selected availability. Allowing more flexibility for individual bookings, as well as offering timetabled group classes.
The Results
Since joining Obby, the Clover Studio school have run over a thousand classes, with hundreds of bookings sold and managed direct through Obby. Clover now has more time to centre, throw, trim, fire, glaze, and most importantly teach.