Help us Rebuild Crazy Green Studios
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Hello, friends!
If you've found your way here via my GoFundMe, you'll see what follows is very much like my intro on that platform, with maybe a bit more details (the pre-edited version!). If you are here to make a tax-deductible donation through our fiscal sponsor, your check should be made payable to The Village Potters Foundation, and please include "for Crazy Green Studios" in the reference line (no online contributions are available for this). You can also contact me here for those details (and thank you!) |
A brief overview:
I’m Lori Theriault, owner of Crazy Green Studios in Asheville, NC. In September 2024, Hurricane Helene destroyed my studios — wiping out equipment, materials, and years of work. Thanks to incredible friends, fellow artists, and grants, I’ve kept creating in temporary spaces and have begun rebuilding over the past 18 months. You can read more about my hurricane story and some of what has transpired here.
JUNE 2026 UPDATE: We've just signed a lease for our new studio at The Mill at Riverside!!! I am ecstatic, excited, relieved, overwhelmed, and so ready to go! After such a long search, a LOT will be happening in the next month, and we have very specific things that this fundraiser will support.
JUNE 2026 UPDATE: We've just signed a lease for our new studio at The Mill at Riverside!!! I am ecstatic, excited, relieved, overwhelmed, and so ready to go! After such a long search, a LOT will be happening in the next month, and we have very specific things that this fundraiser will support.
The Fundraiser:
We need our upfit of and move-in to the new studio as smooth as possible, so we can continue to fulfill the orders in place, and develop orders for the remaining summer season and upcoming holiday season (it's closer than you think). This fundraiser will help ensure there is no delay in completing the essential upfits, so we can move all equipment, tools, and works in progress from our two temporary studios and maintain smooth production to meet delivery deadlines.
Here's a quick peek at some of what that involves:
• Electrical upfits: hard-wiring the kilns in place, adding outlets throughout the studio, installing the kiln exhaust system
• Plumbing upfits: installing double sinks in the studio area, recycled water sink in glaze/kiln room
• Purchase of sinks
• Purchase new water heater
• Light demo/renovation for kiln space
• Building two wedging tables
• Building new tables for slab roller
• Building work tables
• Building/sourcing ware and storage shelves
• Installing kilns and exhaust system
• Moving equipment, furniture, tools, materials, and inventory from multiple locations
• Payroll for continued production and set up of new space
• Security system installation (a grant already purchased the system)
In addition, once we have all the studio equipment, furniture, tools, and materials moved into the new space, we will begin inventory on what we have and what we need. I anticipate we will need additional kiln furniture, carts, accessories for slab and mold making ... an more.
That's off the top of my head and just the start of the list. In addition, I will be fulfilling wholesale orders, preparing to relaunch my online wholesale shop for a July market, and updating my website for future online sales. I have and will be actively pursuing any available grants, and thanks to grants and crowd funding over the past year and a half, I have been able to sustain my studio operations, maybe not at full capacity, but we've survived!
All donations, whether through the GoFundMe, or via tax-deductible donations through our Fiscal Sponsor (The Village Potters Foundation), or showing up with a truck and strong arms on moving day, are deeply appreciated. This support means giving regular hours to staff who have been faithfully available whenever I've needed them, and it means hiring more artists as we realize the growth that will follow having our full studio operations in one place.
Crazy Green Studios has never been just about pottery – it’s about community. Each piece made here doesn't just support me - it supports the local artists I hire to work in the studio. Our supplies and materials are sourced as much as possible within a 1-2 hour drive from Asheville. Our community stretches out to each customer, by adding to the mission of their shops, or in collaboration with chefs and food professionals, by adding value to the experiences they create. We collaborate whenever possible with area non-profits to support the greater community - many who are still in the midst of their own rebuild and recovery. Our clients often talk about "having coffee with" our mugs, or how the beauty and thoughtfulness they know goes into the making of our work inspires the same in the food they prepare. Our work brings handmade, functional art into daily life and makes strong contributions to our local economy. And we cannot wait to be all in one place again making beautiful things together!
Here's a quick peek at some of what that involves:
• Electrical upfits: hard-wiring the kilns in place, adding outlets throughout the studio, installing the kiln exhaust system
• Plumbing upfits: installing double sinks in the studio area, recycled water sink in glaze/kiln room
• Purchase of sinks
• Purchase new water heater
• Light demo/renovation for kiln space
• Building two wedging tables
• Building new tables for slab roller
• Building work tables
• Building/sourcing ware and storage shelves
• Installing kilns and exhaust system
• Moving equipment, furniture, tools, materials, and inventory from multiple locations
• Payroll for continued production and set up of new space
• Security system installation (a grant already purchased the system)
In addition, once we have all the studio equipment, furniture, tools, and materials moved into the new space, we will begin inventory on what we have and what we need. I anticipate we will need additional kiln furniture, carts, accessories for slab and mold making ... an more.
That's off the top of my head and just the start of the list. In addition, I will be fulfilling wholesale orders, preparing to relaunch my online wholesale shop for a July market, and updating my website for future online sales. I have and will be actively pursuing any available grants, and thanks to grants and crowd funding over the past year and a half, I have been able to sustain my studio operations, maybe not at full capacity, but we've survived!
All donations, whether through the GoFundMe, or via tax-deductible donations through our Fiscal Sponsor (The Village Potters Foundation), or showing up with a truck and strong arms on moving day, are deeply appreciated. This support means giving regular hours to staff who have been faithfully available whenever I've needed them, and it means hiring more artists as we realize the growth that will follow having our full studio operations in one place.
Crazy Green Studios has never been just about pottery – it’s about community. Each piece made here doesn't just support me - it supports the local artists I hire to work in the studio. Our supplies and materials are sourced as much as possible within a 1-2 hour drive from Asheville. Our community stretches out to each customer, by adding to the mission of their shops, or in collaboration with chefs and food professionals, by adding value to the experiences they create. We collaborate whenever possible with area non-profits to support the greater community - many who are still in the midst of their own rebuild and recovery. Our clients often talk about "having coffee with" our mugs, or how the beauty and thoughtfulness they know goes into the making of our work inspires the same in the food they prepare. Our work brings handmade, functional art into daily life and makes strong contributions to our local economy. And we cannot wait to be all in one place again making beautiful things together!
The Business:
While it has been at a diminished capacity, work has not stopped over the past 20 months, and I have existing and new clients with orders waiting to be fulfilled:
• Wholesale production for Asheville restaurant - ongoing order fulfillment
• Nine new wholesale accounts with written orders - waiting for order fulfillment
• Secured order for regional restaurant (Carrboro)- waiting for order fulfillment
• Service ware planned for regional restaurant (Flat Rock) - waiting for re-open to confirm orders
• Additional new client relationships waiting for studio re-opening to confirm new orders
• Online wholesale market in July with exposure to over 30,000 buyers
• Launch of online shop for decorative "Vincent Series" vessels and lamps
• Invitation to join a second online wholesale marketplace
• Planned workshops and studio events
• Wholesale production for Asheville restaurant - ongoing order fulfillment
• Nine new wholesale accounts with written orders - waiting for order fulfillment
• Secured order for regional restaurant (Carrboro)- waiting for order fulfillment
• Service ware planned for regional restaurant (Flat Rock) - waiting for re-open to confirm orders
• Additional new client relationships waiting for studio re-opening to confirm new orders
• Online wholesale market in July with exposure to over 30,000 buyers
• Launch of online shop for decorative "Vincent Series" vessels and lamps
• Invitation to join a second online wholesale marketplace
• Planned workshops and studio events
How you can help:
• Donate through our GoFundMe campaign
• Make a tax-deductible donation through our Fiscal Sponsor, The Village Potters Foundation.
(Checks should be made payable to The Village Potters Foundation, with the memo "for Crazy Green Studios")
Reach out to me for details on how to make those donations.
• Reach out to me if you would like to discuss direct support options.
• Share this page or our GoFundMe campaign.
• Join the mailing list below to get updates on our progress and re-opening.
From the deepest place of gratitude — thank you for helping me rebuild, create, and share again.
Together, we can bring Crazy Green Studios home, stronger, safer, and more sustainable.
• Make a tax-deductible donation through our Fiscal Sponsor, The Village Potters Foundation.
(Checks should be made payable to The Village Potters Foundation, with the memo "for Crazy Green Studios")
Reach out to me for details on how to make those donations.
• Reach out to me if you would like to discuss direct support options.
• Share this page or our GoFundMe campaign.
• Join the mailing list below to get updates on our progress and re-opening.
From the deepest place of gratitude — thank you for helping me rebuild, create, and share again.
Together, we can bring Crazy Green Studios home, stronger, safer, and more sustainable.
