Who Me?

Hello, I am Billy the person behind B. Cramer Clay. I am a second generation potter, and a fun-loving human who spent over 20 years working in restaurants before finally following in my parents’ footsteps.

With potters as parents, I had the privilege of growing up around beautiful pottery. Unaware at the time, my childhood home was loaded with amazing pieces of hand-thrown pottery. As a young child, hearing the stories my parents would tell about pottery, I would sit and imagine how these jars, bowls and vases were created and colored.

At the age of 14, my father taught me to throw pottery on a wheel as my parents were just starting their second stint as potters, after nearly 20 years away. Always passionate about new information, I relished in the lessons and began to understand the physics of throwing and the chemistry of glazes. I discovered that I had a good feeling for clay and I took my father’s early lessons to ceramics classes in high school, where I frustrated teachers with my natural ability but lack of desire. After high school I found my way to serving food in restaurants and didn’t touch clay for 20 years.

At the age of 38 my parents convinced me that a ceramic side hustle might be a good idea, and soon I bought my first kiln and bag of clay. That first whiff of damp moldy clay that day in my apartment’s kitchen ignited a passion for ceramics hidden deep inside me. Those early days, while my wife was at work and before I headed in to the restaurant, I was rolling slabs of clay on my kitchen counters, making magnets and slab vases. 8 months in I was gifted my mother’s old throwing wheel, and I moved into a studio space, and I have been centering and pulling mud ever since.

Over the past 3 years I have spent countless hours honing my skills in all aspects of wheel-thrown pottery, never failing to find a new perspective on which to learn about and improve. I aim to make simple, visually appealing items with micro details that elevate the simplicity, giving a functional elegance to what I hope will be daily use pottery.

My biggest influence is my parent’s pottery and I see their work in every piece I make. Hoping to one day gain a style all my own, I plow ahead figuring my style will bloom naturally from the repetition. After years of serving food and creating fine dining experiences, I also find inspiration in how food will be seen and enjoyed from my pieces. While “eating” is a necessity in life, “dining” is an experience of the senses, and the sight and feel of the vessel can be just as important to the experience as the taste and texture of the food dish.

My work will be an ever-evolving showcase of items that please me, and I hope you receive the same amount of joy from using my pottery, as I do from creating it.

-Billy