This Saturday past, Alexis held the first of her two Bring a Friend Events. The next one is April 28th (that’s next Saturday – put it in your day planner!). There was clay, coffee and exceptional chocolate, as well as a chance to see a craft studio, which always fascinates me. It’s a voyeuristic sort of thing; I love to see how other creators organize their space and find it tells me an awful lot about their personalities and how they think.

If that is the case, then Alexis is super-organized and remarkably tidy. Her workspace is bright and airy, well-kept and appears to be easy to use. Everything has a place and you can see how the craftsperson fits right into it like a glove.

Since it was a Bring a Friend day, there were sea urchin bowls being made and the public was invited to help out. Some of the public took this a bit more literally than others!

Christina (or was it Christine? my apologies if I got it wrong!) was there to provide guidance:

And we were also given a peak at a fresh kiln filled with what appeared at first glance to be jewels. Alexis’ crystalline glazes positively shimmered in the light as the kiln lid lifted.

The functional areas of the studio were every bit as interesting. The whole place is laid our quite systematically and coherently, with different stations for different jobs, meaning that clean-up is easier and localized and that it’s possible to put something down to do something else without having to reset the workstation utterly. It’s a marvelous example of a well-designed work-space.

Regrettably, I didn’t take a good picture of Alexis herself, so you’ll just have to visit her website and go to her studio! She sells extraordinary high-end chocolate, too, in case you needed added incentive. The sort of chocolate that you can eat as an extra super-duper treat and of which you only need one piece.

So go! Visit! Her space is lovely, her work is beautiful, she loves to talk about what she’s doing and she has chocolate.

What more could you ask for?