An Ask from Andersen Studio
Dear Friends,
I don’t usually write about this, but I have bills due this week, storage for the original Andersen Design mold collection, a debt negotiation payment, and my internet bill. I need to generate a few hundred dollars in the next few days, and so I am asking for a little help from my friends.
If you’ve ever thought about buying something from the studio, now is truly the time it would make a difference. Whether it’s a print, a ceramic piece, a mug, or a card for someone you love, every single purchase helps me pay the bills and keep the Idea alive.
Shop the collection:
Andersen Design was founded by my parents in Maine in the 1950s, making handmade ceramics with original forms and glazes, made to be affordable to the middle class. I am the one keeping that legacy alive, paying to store the original molds while I work toward a model where independent studios can produce the work again in their own spaces.
In the unfolding paradigm shift, advancing like a fast-moving glacier- I see opportunity for handcrafted manufacturing. The state is invested in pre-fab manufacturing, which will likely have the effect of making handcrafted products more valued than ever.
Making ceramics is creative work.
I read many stories about the jobs vanishing in once stable and reliable industries, but the stories are missing an important factor. Many of the jobs being shed were not only sought after by workers for the rate of pay, but also because of the high degree of creativity they allowed. Making ceramics and other handcrafted products offers that same level of creativity. I have been feeling like it’s time to sell the assets rather than hoping for community support to manifest, to bring about a network of collaborating independent studios, but now, with the sudden speed at which AI is advancing exponentially, I can’t give up here and now when there is a cause for others to recognize the community value and opportunity embodied in the assets that I am paying to store every month. I'm not ready to give up yet, especially not now."
Here’s how you can help right now:
→ Buy something from the shop: ceramics, prints, cards, mugs, tote bags: andersenstudio.com
→ Become a paid Substack subscriber — even $10/month is meaningful direct support.
→ Share this with one person who loves art, loves Maine, or appreciates things made by hand
Every purchase this week goes directly toward keeping the idea - and the legacy - alive a little longer.
Thank you for reading.
Mackenzie Andersen
Hi Mackenzie -- is the hedgehog still available? I didn't see it in the Art Shop.