Potter's career field
Oklahoma City native spins a business out of love, clay
Taylor Dickerson had his whole world in his hands.
As he sat at the potter's wheel in a small shop at House of Clay near NW 30 and Western Avenue on a recent Wednesday morning, wet clay slipped between his fingers and he occasionally wiped the brown grime on his blue jeans.
The 27-year-old Oklahoma City native gently
“It's more of an approach to life. If you're going to do something like a business, do it properly. Give it the right focus and energy and time for producing.” Taylor Dickerson
created a vase out of a small lump of clay. The brief demonstration mirrored how Dickerson has reshaped his own life in the last couple of years, from workaday screen printer to entrepreneurial pottery maker, one whose wares are used in homes and restaurants throughout the Sooner State and beyond.
“It really has become the number one thing I think about — ceramics,” Dickerson said.
Having a business administration education under his belt and a budding career as a screen printer, Dickerson was looking a for a new hobby a few years ago. He was a decent photographer, but not all that good at other visual mediums like painting, drawing and illustrating.
He always wanted “to throw pots” as they say in the ceramic arts. That's when he walked into House of Clay and took a beginner's class that altered the course of his life.
It all started with a change dish and ceramic bugs.
“I immediately fell in love with it,” Dickerson said. “It unlocked something. It was the first medium that really made sense to me, something where I could pretty quickly think of something I wanted to make and be able to do it. I really had this fire and focus for it.”
Dickerson quit the screen printer business and lived off a buyout for several months while honing his craft. In 2017, he started Craig Proper, a hand-crafted tableware and decor business that features pieces of minimalistic and modern design.
He named his business after his middle name Craig, and his experience living in Dublin, Ireland, from the age of 7 to 13. Craig is a Scottish word meaning “rock.” Proper came about after Dickerson reflected on his time at an international school where he learned about etiquette and work ethic.
“It's more of an approach to life,” Dickerson said. “If you're going to do something like a business, do it properly. Give it the right focus and energy and time for producing.”
Dickerson is passing those lessons onto students at House of Clay. Newly married, he and his wife recently moved to Tulsa, but Dickerson returns to Oklahoma City each week to teach classes.
Around the shop are newly formed pieces that Dickerson himself would've made in his beginner days. Tiny bowls and little plates. A clay monkey near a clay elephant.
Someone asked about a set of pitchers and student Tresa Smith humblebragged.
“Those are mine,” she said. “I put a handle on something and it lived.”
A former schoolteacher who has attended Dickerson's classes for about three months, Smith was working on a cake plate that could've turned into a chip and dip platter if things went perfectly wrong. She has a wry sense of humor.
“I just let the clay speak to me,” Smith said. “I went to the arts festival and found out you can sell anything.”
Dickerson floated from student to student, offering tips in the language of ceramics. Throw and knead. Trim and dry. Kiln and glaze.
“The corner of that rib is gonna catch right here,” he told a student working on a pitcher.
Haley Wilson, nurse by trade who spent the previous night rocking out to St. Paul & The Broken Bones at the Jones Assembly, arrived in a green band T-shirt and started throwing clay on the kneading surface.
“I've been familiar with his work, and I always wanted to learn,” she said of Dickerson. “It's been the most fun class ever.”
When he first started in ceramics, rather than relaxing at the potter's wheel, which to an observer appears to have a meditative quality, Dickerson got so frustrated that at times he forgot to breathe. Experience and success brought about a relaxing experience when he creates.
Now, Dickerson enjoys sharing with students the lessons of patience and creativity, especially in group settings where he finds a sense of community. They can make a change dish or a little bug, but watching them overcoming the fear that they can't create is what keeps Dickerson coming back to the shop.
“You can see the reaction on their face and I love that,” he said.