Local Makers Find Success in Peachtree Corners, Part 1: “Molding A New Life — Cosa Linda Pottery”

Sometimes it takes the unexpected to shake things up and inspire us to pursue our dreams. Whether it’s our children growing up and needing less attention, a sudden job change or a desire to transform grief into growth, there are many reasons why individuals might seek out a career that sparks their passion and gives their life new meaning.

Certainly, the past two years of living through a global pandemic have presented unprecedented challenges and ample opportunities to reconsider the ‘why’ behind our daily lives. So what does it take for an individual to embrace their dreams and not only survive a pandemic, but also to thrive?

Rios in her workshop, Christmas Trees.

I’d like to introduce you to three such makers who have devoted themselves to their crafts, finding joy and meaning through transforming their ideas into products, and hobbies into livelihoods.

Molding A New Life — Cosa Linda Pottery

“I feel like it’s best when you can pick it up and feel it,” said Lauren Rios, a sculptor who has been making mostly functional pottery for her company Cosa Linda Pottery since she debuted in 2019. Working out of her home studio tucked away in a corner of her basement, Rios throws pieces on the wheel and hand sculpts works to sell in local art festivals and via her Etsy shop.

Her wares include bowls, pitchers, berry bowls, vases, dishes and her ever-popular Christmas trees.

Rios has been working with clay since she was a junior in high school. As a shy teenager, the ceramics teacher at her school suggested that she could spend her downtime in the studio. This quickly became a lifeline for Rios, sparking a joy for working with clay and eventually leading to employment under an established functional potter in her hometown.

At home, her parents also continuously nurtured her creativity. “My mom is very artistic,” said Rios, who remembers doing arts and crafts with her mom and home improvement projects with her dad. More comfortable with 3-D work than 2-D art such as drawing, Rios said it was a natural fit for her to work with clay. “I kind of have to visualize the whole thing,” she explained.

Her time working for Alec Karros, an established functional potter and adjunct professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, was transformative and inspirational. “I learned so much from him; how to run an efficient studio, how to be safe with the materials, how to pack things so they don’t break and things like that.” During the year or so that she worked under Karros, she gained a tactile feel for functional clay work, something she applies to everything from the thickness of the clay to the finish and the overall shape. Now, after all of these years dabbling in the craft, she is hoping to explore and grow as an artist.

Rios is currently enrolled at Kennesaw State University pursuing a master’s degree in Art and Design with a concentration in Arts Education. In the years since she first experimented with pottery as a teen, she has worked as a Spanish teacher, and is currently employed by Renfroe Academy, a middle school located in Decatur. Before that, she was involved with Pinckneyville Middle School, but found the balance of managing her young children and the classes to be untenable in the long run, forcing her to step back from the craft.

It was when Rios and her family moved to their current home around 2015 and she was able to build out her own studio that she was able to devote more time and energy to pottery. Now that her children are older, she has prioritized discovering her style and developing her skills further through her classes at KSU. Rios spoke of the unique challenge she faces when trying to depart from the rules and workflow that she adapted from working as a functional potter.

“I’m actually doing my whole thesis on busts and self-portraiture,” explained Rios with a laugh, who admits that this kind of work is a total deviation. Beyond making non-functional pieces, it is also a new challenge to make only one of something. “That’s all I know how to do, right? I can’t make one thing; I have to make 12. I don’t know how to not scale.”

All of Rios’ work is food-safe, microwaveable and dishwasher safe. In 2021 she decided to sign up for only one festival, the Peachtree Corners Festival, in order to give herself adequate time to create her pieces for the event. She fulfills orders through her Etsy shop year-round.

One of Rios’ most popular designs is her Christmas tree design. These 3D trees are hand cut and molded, then painted green or left as a sort of natural cream color. Rios says she’s currently experimenting with new colors that she may debut in the future as well. Originally developed for a Christmas in July show in Tucker three years ago, the trees are both charming and timeless.

Rios’ affection for Christmas trees can be traced all the way back to her senior year of high school when her family purchased a home that happened to be located on a Christmas Tree farm.

“At the time the Norway spruce, spruce trees and the white pines were in style, and we would have a choose-and-cut. We did it for maybe two or three years before the trees got too big and then everyone started buying fir trees. The fir trees, they over trim them and they sag, but the Norway spruces grow straight upright and they smell fabulous, though they are very prickly. So I just made a Christmas tree. I wanted to do the traditional way you might draw a Christmas tree and I experimented with ways to make them. I’ve been doing it for three years, I think , and they get better each year.”

Rios shared that while she first began working with clay as a means of expressing her creativity, she has also found it to be therapeutic, albeit a little lonely at times. She plans to eventually meld her two loves, clay and teaching, and begin offering workshops or summer classes. While she’s happy today working solo in her home studio, she does miss being around other creatives. Rios hopes that the future holds more opportunities for sharing in community while developing her work and also passing her knowledge on to the next generation of makers.

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