INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — What does a pottery instructor do when COVID-19 restrictions keep her students away from her central Indiana studios? She molds a new plan to stay afloat.
Local businesswoman Jodi Krumel has owned Get Dirty Ceramics in Fountain Square for almost a decade. She was earning an income teaching several after-school and preschool ceramics programs, but the coronavirus pandemic ended all of that — for now.
“I did three after-school programs on my own, and I'm an hourly employee of the Indianapolis Art Center,” Jodi said. “I went to no income [due to the coronavirus pandemic].”
In order to fill her time so that she doesn’t — in her words — “go crazy,” Krumel decided to utilize the 400 pounds of unused clay in her shop to make COVID-19-inspired mugs and magnets. These handmade ceramic items say things like “I’m Essential” and “I Love Dr. Fauci.”
“I've been inspired by what's going on around me, specifically the ‘I Love Dr. Fauci’ mugs, just because he's been such a wonderful, kind of positive light in all this,” Krumel said.
And they’re flying off the shelves! In fact, Krumel has been able to pay her studio rent for the month of May off the sales of her mugs alone.
“The first 20 that I made sold just through friends and family advertising them, including an order from a gentleman from the IU School of Medicine, who bought around 12 mugs,” Krumel said.
The “I’m Essential” mugs and magnets are serving as a pick-me-up for many frontline workers.
“I gave one of those to my studio mate who is quarantining at her house and her grocery store job,” Krumel said. “I have a lot of teacher friends. One was struggling one day and posted on Facebook. She was just having a real rough day, so I dropped an ‘I’m Essential’ mug off at her porch.”
Might these mugs and magnets be collector items one day?
“They're gonna tell a point in history,” Krumel said. “I always sign these with the date, so they're all going to say 2020. The year 2020 is going to be synonymous with COVID-19.”
Send an email to jodi@getdirtyceramics.com to order mugs ($20) and magnets.