About

Hi, I’m Carrie the proud owner of Panda Ceramics Studio. I set this up as a mobile business business during lockdown 2020 which to some might seem crazy but rest assured it was exactly the right thing to do. It gave me the opportunity to learn the ropes as it were, familiarising myself with the kiln, ceramics and underglazes.

I come from a big Irish family many of whom are very creative. We have singers, writers, artists, musicians, photographers, entrepreneurs and that’s just the ladies! I remember my Mum and Nana were brilliant with their hands, self taught in all things crafty and had a very keen eye always sewing, knitting, drawing and baking delicious treats. Living in our house was a little like Blue Peter at times, I feel lucky to have those very fond memories now.

December 2019 I took redundancy from the Finance industry where I had spent over 15 years working in various roles. Lockdown was just the push I needed to set my business up finally, after planning it for over 10 years. I had actually tried to set it all up 6 years ago but it fell through at the last hurdle, I was devastated at the time but strongly believed ‘what’s for you won’t go by you’. Later that same year we had our son, Ciaran, we decided to park the business until the time felt right again. September 2020 I finally took the step towards my dream job and set up a little mobile pottery studio, I’ve never looked back since. 

When Ciaran was about 2, he had a favourite teddy, ‘Danda’. Danda got big cuddles every day in particular at nap time and my son had frequent conversations with Danda just before he got up from his naptime.  They actually had a lot in common

• great eye sight.
• like to climb.
• clumsy and often trip, fall and roll over while exploring their surroundings.

In case you haven’t already guessed, ‘Danda’ is a Panda.

We wanted a memorable and easily recognisable brand that would be fun for kids and contemporary for adults. Pandas are very special and unique mammals and are easily recognisable to children due to their strong appeal and of course we had ‘Sweetie’ and ‘Sunshine’ at Edinburgh Zoo at that time too.

Hence the Panda branding for Panda Ceramics came about.