“Determining your style as maker isn’t something you arrive at once, it’s something that keeps developing as you keep working.”
Kaden joined the studio in the summer of 2025. He planned to stay for the Summer, and never left. I really admire the way he works. There's a precision to everything he does, not just in the throwing itself, but in how he designs and makes decisions about his work. Nothing is accidental. He's been teaching wheel throwing since 2023, in several studios, and now also here at The Practice.Today I want to ask him a few questions about his own creative journey.
Do you remember when you realized you wanted to work with your hands?
I don’t think there was one very specific moment, but I’ve always been drawn to making things. The turning point was when I did an internship at an architecture firm. I was sitting behind a computer most of the time, working at a desk, and I realized how little that suited me. It made me aware that a lot of jobs are like that, and that I didn’t really enjoy that way of working. I wanted something more tangible and something physical.
Did you try other creative paths before ceramics?
I did experiment with other things, like photography, which I enjoyed for a while. But ceramics was always the thing I kept coming back to. For the past ten years, it’s really been constant. Even when I was focused on other things, ceramics was always there in the background.
You have a very distinct style. Did that take time to develop?
Yeah, definitely. It took quite a long time, and it really came from trying a lot of different approaches. I experimented with different styles, techniques, and ways of making, and over time I started to understand what I liked and what I didn’t like. So in a way, it developed through a process of elimination, gradually narrowing things down to something that felt right. Even now, I don’t think it’s fixed. It’s still evolving.
You’ve done a lot of production work. Do you enjoy making the same piece over and over again?
I actually do, for a couple of reasons. First of all, I really like the challenge of it. Making the same piece over and over again, consistently, is surprisingly difficult. When I first started ceramics, I couldn’t understand how people did that. Even when I started doing production work myself, it still felt kind of unbelievable. So there’s something about that difficulty that I find motivating. But there’s also a visual aspect to it. One object on its own can be beautiful, but when you create many of the same piece, it becomes something else entirely. A collection has a different kind of presence. At the same time, they’re never completely identical. Those small differences are what give the work a sense of character and keep it human.
You brought a tool with you today. What is it?
I brought a set of calipers that I mainly use when trimming. They’re really helpful for keeping shapes and sizes consistent, especially when I’m working on multiple pieces.
What I like about these in particular is that they’re very stiff and precise, so it’s hard to accidentally change the measurement. Apparently, they’re over a hundred years old. The person I bought them from said they might have originally been used for measuring maps, which I thought was interesting.
I like the idea that they’ve had a life before ending up in the studio. And beyond that, they’re just a beautiful object.
How do you make time to be creative while also running a business?
It can definitely be challenging, because there’s always a lot going on. But for me, it really comes down to being intentional about it. I try to schedule time specifically for making or thinking about new work, and treat that as something important rather than something optional. Of course, it doesn’t always work perfectly, things come up, and some days you don’t manage to do what you planned. But I think if it really matters to you, you have to make a conscious effort to create that space.