21 Questions On Business, Collaboration And Making Things With Chantal Strasburger
What’s your vision for work? For life? For your community?
This season, we're touching base with our members and friends about the meaning of vision. ✰ ꩜
So, we’ve invited former craftHER vendor Chantal Strasburger, who runs Chantal Ceramics and Read Receipts, to share the collaborative vision behind her two businesses, her favorite collaborations, proudest milestones and vision for the future of Texas.
Photo courtesy of Chantal Strasburger.
ABOUT CHANTAL STRASBURGER, chantal ceramics and read receipts
Chantal Strasburger is a native Austinite, multi-media artist and proud craftHER Market vendor! While her professional background is in editorial writing (working previously for Teen Vogue, Nylon Magazine, and Snapchat) she’s returned to her first love—art—and now splits her time between her businesses, which include Chantal Ceramics (@chantal_ceramics) and Read Receipts (@read_receipts).
Chantal Ceramics produces a mix of functional and sculptural handmade, small-batch pieces in her home studio. Recent highlights include having a special-edition ring dish in Boss Babes’ first CraftHer Box, a collaboration with fellow vendor New Origin Shop to make mugs for Sweetgreen’s Austin launch, and branded mugs for Austin-based Siete Foods.
Read Receipts, her embroidery business, has grown from custom messages between friends to capturing the latest internet memes and political trends. She’s also created capsule collections for labels such as Club Monaco, designed merch for companies including Netflix, and collaborated on designs for brands like Phenomenal. Through Read Receipts, Chantal has been able to donate thousands of dollars for voting rights and social justice organizations that speak to her products’ messaging.
She has a few other projects up her sleeve—so follow along on Instagram @chantagold to stay tuned!
21 ANSWERS ABOUT CHANTAL:
1. What’s your day-to-day mantra?
My work allows me to live the life I love.
2. Chantal Strasburger in 3 emojis?
🤠🧋✨
3. What is your vision for your work? Your life?
For work, I want to continue making pieces that are beautiful and have purpose.
For life, I want to travel the world and create things that bring me joy.
4. The thing you most wish for your world is…
A beautiful studio space with a lot of natural light, plants, and more shelves than I could even dream of filling.
5. What would you love to see more of from small businesses like yours?
I would love to see more meet-ups where we can share knowledge and swap ideas. It takes so much to run a business, and we’re all learning as we grow—but we don’t have to reinvent the wheel!
6. Who are your style icons?
My mother, who finds some of the most fascinating and outrageous statement pieces from all over the world. I’m also constantly inspired by my three sisters. We all share clothes and send each other fashion inspiration and learn from each other.
7. Why is collaboration important to your businesses?
Collaboration opens my eyes to new ideas and opens my brand to new audiences. It’s a way for me to rethink how I'm doing something and learn from other makers’ experiences. My favorite part is seeing how our voices and visions come together to create something new.
Photo courtesy of Chantal Strasburger.
Photo courtesy of Chantal Strasburger.
8. First thing you think about in the morning?
“Do I have any computer work to do today, so that I have an excuse to sit outside and enjoy the glorious weather?” Pretty much the only reason I’m ever excited to read my emails.
9. Craziest thing on your bucket list?
I’d really love to get a grant to study ceramic traditions in a country like Japan or Indonesia or India. Completely immersing myself in the local arts and culture (and food!) while learning another language and new techniques sounds like an incredibly challenging but fulfilling adventure.
10. What have you let go of this year that’s made a positive change in your life?
I’ve given up worrying that I'm not doing enough. With everyone seemingly learning new skills in the pandemic like baking bread and writing novels, I was stressed that I wasn’t being “productive” enough—but now I simply remind myself that I’m doing plenty.
11. You want the future of Texas to look like...
BLUE. I want fellow Texans to work on educating themselves about issues like social justice and climate change. I’m tired of Texas having the reputation of being ignorant and backwards. It’s time for a change.
12. What’s one thing you learned about yourself recently?
When it comes to being social, I’ve realized how happy I am with just staying at home. I now know the full extent of my introverted-ness and how little I miss going out to parties and bars.
13. Something new you’re trying?
Audiobooks! I stopped having time to read books when my sales picked up and so I’m now exploring the magical world of listening to books while I'm working. Life-changing.
14. CURRENTLY READING…
Zillow. Everyday I browse listings to day dream about potential future studio spaces and think about where I might go next.
Photo courtesy of Chantal Strasburger.
Photo courtesy of Chantal Strasburger.
15. Currently listening to..
I watch a lot of Tik Tok (specifically #booktok), which convinced my sisters and me to get deep into the Fantasy Fiction genre. It’s not exactly highbrow...but I’ve been listening to the audiobooks for the series A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. Very smutty, very addicting.
16. How would you describe your creative and production process?
My process involves a lot of flipping through magazines and perusing Pinterest for inspiration. I love being in beautiful spaces and interiors and seeing what speaks to me. For ceramics, I’m constantly looking for new colors for glazes, and for Read Receipts, I scroll through Twitter to see what people are talking about and what meme my next design might riff off.
17. Best advice you’ve been given?
To make sure you take breaks when you need them! I’m someone who can get very wrapped up in fulfilling orders or planning the next Big Idea and work forever. My boyfriend Ian is always like, “You need to take a break or you’ll get burned out!” So definitely prioritizing myself and my well-being.
18. What does a day-in-the-life of Chantal consist of?
Wake up and work out (I’ve recently started jump-roping every morning), have my coffee and work on my book of logic puzzles, go through my emails and Instagram DMs and spend the rest of the work day making and packing orders.
The evening ends with a trail run with my boyfriend, dinner, and, ideally, a movie or a game of Bananagrams or Settlers of Catan.
19. Proudest milestone?
One of my proudest milestones so far is making mugs for Sweetgreen in collaboration with New Origin Shop (another one of our craftHER Market vendors). Sweetgreen was my favorite place to splurge on salads when I lived in Brooklyn, so them asking me to make mugs for their opening in Austin and having it come full circle was just an extremely cool moment.
20. What are you most excited about in life right now?
I am fully vaccinated, so I’m excited to start seeing family and traveling again. I’m heading over to England next week to see my grandmother for the first time in well over a year and I can’t wait. We’ll have to quarantine for 10 days when we get there since the pandemic isn’t over yet, but fingers crossed the end is near!
21. What do you want people to feel when they buy/use your products?
With my ceramics, I want my pieces to add a sense of calm or delight to their everyday lives—when they drink out of my mug or use my soap dish. As for Read receipts, my shirts and designs hold messages that are important to me, and I hope other people feel empowered when they wear them, too.
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