Shaping her own path: How a SWEF Enterprise Grant supported Steph to grow Clay’dor Pottery

Based in Bridgwater, Steph Chamberlain received a grant of £2,000 from the SWEF Enterprise Fund to grow and develop her Clay’dor Pottery business.

“I didn’t realise just how much I would fall in love with pottery,” says Steph Chamberlain, the creator behind Somerset’s Clay’dor Pottery.

“I wanted to start doing it as a business because I wanted to show other disabled people that we can achieve anything we put our minds to. I find the clay very therapeutic, and with my autism I can get down and dirty with it and know I can create something beautiful.”

Steph has always been an extremely determined woman. Born with cerebral palsy, she’s paralysed down the left side of her body and was diagnosed with severe autism later in life.

As a baby, doctors didn’t expect her to walk. But her mum Ann remembers how one morning she felt Steph’s hand tugging hers in the family’s kitchen.

“Steph has always just found her own way of doing things,” says Ann.

“She’s always wanted to work and I brought her up to believe there’s nothing she can’t do.”

Steph first took up pottery as a hobby with an evening course after lockdown. Ann said her enthusiasm was like “seeing a flower open.”

“I’m not going to lie and say there aren’t many challenges with pottery – because there are!” says Steph.

“But once I put my mind to it I come up with alternative ways to do things one-handed.”

Growing her business

Steph decided to turn her passion into a business. To start with she sold her pottery at craft fairs, before launching pottery workshops for small groups.

“Suddenly, Steph was teaching 5 or 6 students ranging from people in their 20s to older people, making glazing, firing pieces of their art – teaching them how to do it,” says Ann.

Demand became so much that she had to scale up her equipment so she could grow her business. A SWEF Enterprise Grant for £2,000 helped fund a new kiln so more students can fire their work.

“The second kiln was an absolute lifesaver,” says Ann.

“It meant that Steph didn’t have to transport students’ work to her kiln at home – which could be a struggle.”

Like many teachers, Steph sometimes finds running the sessions tiring. And her autism means she can find organisation a struggle. But with support from her family she’s determined to reach even more people through her passion for pottery.

“My mum is my world,” she says.

“Without her and my dad’s help and support with my pottery I definitely don’t think I’ll be where I am today – we make a great team.”

Our SWEF Enterprise Fund provides business grants of up to £2,000 to young business owners aged between 18-30 in Somerset, North Somerset and BANES. We have grants available for Start-Ups and Established Businesses.

Photo caption: Steph Chamberlain standing next to her kiln.