Meet Emmanuelle Wambach | Artist and owner of Emmanuelle Ceramics

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emmanuelle Wambach and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emmanuelle, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?

Make sure that you know how every part of your business works, and then find people who can help you make each piece truly work for your business. For example, I am an artist. I love to make work. But is true what they say about being a small business owner. You spend the least amount of time making your product. A first I wore all the hats. I know how my taxes work, I know how to market myself, I do outreach, I create business plans, I know how every part of my business functions. But it wasn’t until I asked for help that I was truly able to focus on making my work.

Many think that as a small business owner you must do everything yourself, but that’s not true. I hired a CPA, I have help with my marketing, I got help putting together a more detailed business plan. There are so many resources available to small businesses. See what you can delegate so that you can do what you truly love. It took me a while to learn that. But now that I have, I try to find people that know even more about these things to help me grow my business.

My journey has been long and winding. I have always loved art. I am part of a family that stressed its importance. We had art all over the house and I drew and colored whenever I could. I had planned to go to medical school, but in college I took a ceramics course, and I fell in love. I decided to go to art school. My parents were not very pleased at the time but now they see how my business is growing and they see that I love it.

After Graduate school, where I earned a Master’s in Ceramics, I was able to take part in opportunities that helped me grow my work. I took part in a ceramics residency in Japan in 2016 which opened my eyes to what a person could really do with clay. I came back to Pittsburgh and joined Union Project which is an amazing Ceramics co-op in the city. It was there that I started using lace in my work. I also found groups such as Women of Visions, Origins, and the Creative Business Accelerator. They helped me get over my doubts, and really start my business.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My business, Emmanuelle Ceramics creates lace and fabric textured, decorative and functional work. What I love about fabric is the stories It can tell. Fabric is an important part of so many events in human history and in our everyday lives. You have items such as christening robes, wedding dresses, the shirt your grandfather used to wear. All these items have a story. You can follow those stories back all the way to ancient times.

Fabric is so important. However, fabric can fade and yellow and fall apart. We don’t have examples of costumes and fabrics of certain eras, just descriptions and sometimes drawings. What I like to do with my pieces is take fabric, such as lace and imprint it onto my clay forms. I take fabric that can be an heirloom, and I use it to create an item that can become an heirloom. For example, I made ornaments for a customer from her grandmother’s wedding dress. It was such a significant memory to her. The dress was tattered and falling apart. But I was able to print the fabric onto stone basically. And now she creates her own memories using the ornaments that I made, impressed with her grandmother’s dress. Something that was such a big part of someone’s memories can be used to make an item that makes new memories.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Most of the time when people think of Pittsburgh, they think about Flashdance. The idea of this steel city it’s gray, cold, and kills ambitions. But truthfully, Pittsburgh is an amazing and inspiring place. The food scene is fantastic, there are so many museums, and there’s so many small businesses popping up that do almost everything from ax throwing to cider microbrews. But what I love about Pittsburgh is it hasn’t gotten rid of its history. You can still see the history of the steel mills; you can still see the places where the unions started. You can see the history of African American, jazz and culture in Pittsburgh’s Hill District and Homewood. It is a city of history, but also a city of innovation.

If my friend was visiting, we would go check out all the museums. You have the Carnegie Museum of Art and Natural History, you have the Mattress Factory Museum, and the Warhol Museum, but you also have lesser known museums like the Frick, which showcases Pittsburgh’s role as a center of the Gilded Age. We would probably also hit up Lawrenceville. It’s a cute neighborhood with lots of amazing art, small shops, a great theater, and just a cool place to hang out. We might travel outside of the city and go see Fallingwater, the House by Frank Lloyd Wright that’s only about an hour and a half away. We might go downtown and grab something to eat or see a show in the cultural district. There’s also a ton of amazing art galleries down there. We can also go biking or hiking or boating or whatever outdoor activity we would want to do. If there’s something you want to do in Pittsburgh, you can probably find it.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have a few groups that I would love to shout out. First, the Art Association of Harrisburg, PA. They gave me my first job out of graduate school, and I was able to continue to pursue art. I taught classes there and it really was an important steppingstone to my move to Pittsburgh. Then Union Project in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is a community center and I’m part of their ceramics co-op. Without them I wouldn’t be able to make my work. I also want to shout out the Creative Business Accelerator, especially the Origins Cohort for Black Makers, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They’ve helped me with everything from artist headshots to business planning to marketing to research on green designs. My business could not grow without them. Finally, many Pittsburgh organizations, such as Handmade Arcade and Women of Visions, have helped me make connections and grow my artwork and my brand. I wouldn’t be here without them. Also, I’d love to shout out my parents and my family. Even though they were a little worried about me starting a business and really getting into art, they’ve always been supportive and loving. I’m very lucky to have them.

Website: https://emmanuelleceramics.com/

Instagram: @emmanuellewambach

Facebook: @EmmanuelleWambachCeramics

Image Credits
The photo of me was taken by Nathan J Shaulis at Porter Loves