Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Smejkal & Dana Cattani Smejkal.
Hi Chris and Dana, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Chris: We got started in a round-about way
Dana: In 2018, we were at a Christmas event for my first business, Santatown Press, an independent publishing company I formed to sell my flagship book, The Official Christmas Elves Handbook. In the booth next to ours was Marcella, an incredible woman from The Macoupin Art Collective in Staunton, IL. Over the next two days, we became friends and had much fun with her.
Chris: We learned they had clay classes and decided to try a 6-week pottery wheel class. We loved playing in the mud so much that we signed up for a 6-week hand-building class, and that’s when we both found a new love.
Dana: We dabbled for that first year, turned a little corner of our basement into a studio, and then decided that the elves of Santatown could make and sell some elf-sized clay gift items and ornaments for the coming holiday book events. They sold so well we could barely keep up!
Chris: The next Christmas season was during covid, so we only did a couple of small events, but, again, we needed to catch up with demand. So, we decided to create a separate business to do year-round events with our clay products, and our studio has now taken over half of our basement. Park Bench Creations was formed, and the elves returned to work in Santatown. We might have something great here when we realize how well we did at our events.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Because Park Bench was a spin-off of another business, we could start slowly and get our feet wet before we leaped into an independent entity. The first two years of Santatown Press events had us attending high schools, breweries, community centers, coffee houses, etc. We could see the venues that worked best for our product lines and better learn what customers are drawn to for challenges and lessons. We are always evolving and trying new things, adding new products, and getting feedback from customers and other vendors, so learning from those sources has been the best lesson. We’re also constantly striving for efficiency:
- Which products are worth the time/cost input
- How to pack, unpack, set up, and take down better and faster.
- How to keep track of inventory and sales to be more proactive.
Going into this holiday season will be our biggest learning experience – it will be a hectic and challenging few months!
We love surprises, fun facts, and incredible stories. Can you share something that might surprise us?
Everything we make is 100% hand/slab built. This sets us apart from most ceramic vendors because most potters focus their work on the wheel. While we loved creating on the wheel, we were more drawn to the wonkiness of hand-built items. It’s very freeing to embrace imperfections when working with slabs of clay! And we each have created our aesthetic that works very well with that intentional irregularity. While our styles are very different, we think they work beautifully in one eclectic space.
We answered two questions you put in your email – the first about happiness and the second about pricing. Here are our responses:
This sounds a bit cheesy, but happiness in business is being able to work together as a team. We’ve found something creative we both love to do, and, with that, we developed a great balance of strengths and interests that fit both our styles and time constraints. Chris is a communications professor and department chair at St Louis Community College, and Dana is a part-time studio manager at The Macoupin Art Collective. So our time input is very different; there are parts of the business we each are assigned to make this work. Through trial and error, we think we’ve found a rhythm that works well for us. Another thing that makes us happy with our businesses is hearing customer feedback. Getting to know so many people who have become repeat customers and now friends, hearing people laugh at our goofy and irreverent products and meeting fellow vendors who are always so supportive and encouraging of each other. As for happiness In life? Being able to spend it with your best friend Traveling, good food & drink, family, new experiences, and thinking about the future.
We love that we have a lot of variety and have something for everyone, from kids to adults, for everyone on a gift list. We keep all our products accessibly priced – most of our items are $10-$25, but we also have a large selection as low as $5 and a few items as much as $50. We each have our own aesthetic, so there are two very different styles mixed in together. Chris has a more natural and heavier look, focusing on impressed botanicals and (often-) irreverent sayings. Dana has a more colorful and lighter look, focusing on texture and fun gift items. We make everything from wall art and home decor to functional kitchenware and many unusual gift ideas! We also feature hand-made crystal & semiprecious stone jewelry, photography, and custom stickers at many of our events, priced in the $5-50 range.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Park Bench Creations
- Facebook: Park Bench Creations
Image Credits
Christopher Smejkal
