Small Business of the Month: The Village Potters

In true Asheville fashion, creativity, collaboration and commerce collide at The Village Potters, our Small Business of the Month. 

"We celebrate creativity and people," said founder Sarah Wells Rolland. "We have created a community where we support, encourage and assist each other toward success." 

A studio potter for 25 years, Sarah had long held the idea for The Village Potters with a desire to share her experience with emerging potters. In 2011, that idea blossomed into an entity when she and her husband George found a 5,000 square foot space in the River Arts District.

 

Sarah Wells Rolland receives Small Business of the
Month Award from Chamber board member Laura Webb

Sarah asked four potters and long-time friends to join her in this grand experiment, a collective called The Village Potters with the mission of nurturing a passion for ceramic art and nurture creative exploration through education, experience, relationship and community. The Village Potters is a now fully equipped 13,000 square-foot Pottery housing six working professional studios, and includes three showrooms exhibiting and selling the fine, contemporary ceramic art of the permanent artists. The Village also serves 28 advanced students, a clay supply company, and a Teaching Center offering classes and one-time clay experiences for visitors and residents of Western NC.

In addition to Sarah and her husband George, Lori Theriault, Judi Harwood, Karen Dubois, Melanie Robertson and Christine Henry make up the intentional collective of potters who share a commitment to nurturing each other’s success, as well as the development and success of their students.

"We have established a beautifully creative sharing community," Sarah said. "As we say around The Village,we look not only to our own interest but also the interest of others.” 

Sometimes we overlook that artists like The Village Potters are also business people. The establishment of The Village Potters was funded completely by the sales of the Sarah's pottery and the tireless labor of her husband, George. 

"There is a misconception that all artists are either financially destitute or have a trust fund," Sarah said. "But in fact like us, most potters build their business one piece of pottery at a time."

So what is this artist/business woman's tips for other small businesses? Seek counsel. 

"I have been in business for over 30 years and I still am being mentored and getting counsel from others," Sarah said, noting that recently SCORE has been helpful in her decision making.

The Village Potters is expanding again, adding 5000 sq. feet to create incubator studio spaces for ceramic artist’s business startups. The tenants in the incubator are graduates of the two year Advanced Ceramic Study Program. The new expansion also includes a clay supply company and an additional fully equipped studio classroom.

Small Business of the Month: Physio Physical Therapy & Wellness

If you’ve ever had an injury, you know how the care you receive can make a difference in your recovery process. When physical therapist Chris Taylor ruptured his Achilles working out and became a physical therapy patient himself, the experience transformed the way he thought about providing care.

“It allowed me to see the entire physical therapy experience from a different viewpoint,” says this month’s Small Business of the Month owner. “I took everything I learned and put that together to create a great experience with knowledgable professionals that listen and care.”

The result was Physio Physical Therapy and Wellness founded in 2012 by Chris and his wife Lara with the goal of providing the Asheville community access to revolutionary treatments from the best providers. The group offers physical therapy, massage and medically developed weight loss program.

“When you are in pain and don’t want to have to go through the healing process, we are there to support and guide you, yet offer revolutionary techniques to speed up the healing process,” Taylor said.

With about ten employees, Physio has a strong customer service driven culture. That team and commitment have been central to the company’s success and have led them to be named the Best Physical Therapy Clinic in WNC 5 years in a row.

“The best advice I have received is to not go about it by yourself,” Taylor said. “I am most proud of the amazing team we have built and the great work they do to help the Asheville community stay active and pain free on a daily basis.” 

Community is core for Physio, which is 100% locally owned and operated by Chris Taylor.

“We love being part of Asheville,” Taylor said. “From free monthly workshops to sponsoring events, we do what we can to educate our community. We just finished our annual Love Drive for the Hope Chest for Women and are excited to deliver our donations.”

Taylor says they continue to look for ways to serve the community and are working on some exciting new programs for the community such as personal training.

We look forward to seeing what this Small Business of the Month does next.

Small Business of the Month: Blue Ridge Public Radio

Chances are, if you are in the Asheville area, you've probably had a few "driveway moments" with your radio dial tuned in to Blue Ridge Public Radio. For nearly 40 years, this listener-supported non-profit has provided public radio services to Western North Carolina with a blend of NPR programming, entertainment and classical music. We are pleased to recognize Blue Ridge Public Radio as Small Business of the Month.

BPR Dir. of Underwriting Steve Busey and BPR
Board Chair Ken Brame with Chamber Board Chair Himanshu Karvir

 

"As we travel the region and talk with our listeners and members, we hear overwhelmingly that Blue Ridge Public Radio is a critical connector within our WNC communities and across the region," said BPR General Manager & CEO David Feingold.

Incorporated in 1979, Blue Ridge Public Radio was originally located on the campus of UNC Asheville. Over the last three decades, BPR has operated from a downtown location and has steadily expanded services by adding more transmitters to the system and expanding programming offers. Today, BPR operates fifteen transmission facilities, many of them on remote mountain tops across WNC to serve listeners in 13 counties.

In March of this year, the organization rebranded as Blue Ridge Public Radio. This parent brand comprises two siblings: WCQS news/classical music and the all news BPR News with expanded local and national news coverage.  The expansion was preceded by enlarging the news staff, which included the hiring an arts journalist to cover our region's creative economy. BPR also recently launched two, new locally produced podcasts and a new mobile app. 

"We’ve built a strong, independent, self-supporting journalism organization that is trusted by a growing audience across Western North Carolina," Feingold said. "This is borne out in the listener statistics, annual membership revenue, and increasing business sponsorship from companies that rely on BPR to help market their products and services."

Last fall, WCQS became – for the first time - the #1 most listened to station in the Asheville Metro Market. At this point in the organization's history, BPR's financial health has never been better with a growing endowment and balanced budgets and better over the last three years.  

"As a public radio broadcaster, building community is at the core of our mission. It infuses how we shape and deliver our services and how we invest in the future." 

Reflecting the organization's commitment to downtown Asheville, BPR recently completed a redesign plan for a complete renovation and technical upgrade to the organization's studios and offices at 73 Broadway. The new facility will be state of the art, will include public spaces for events, and an inviting streetscape. 

To other small businesses, Feingold says, "Earn the trust of your audience/customers every day. Get to know and understand them. And don't ever pull back on that effort."