Our Story
I'm Lucy. I've been making pottery for about fifteen years. My family and I moved to Carmel-by-the-Sea in the summer of 2025, and opened our store in November.
I learned to throw in a pottery class and never really left. I work primarily on the wheel with high-fire clay and glazes, which help me achieve a style that feels very "California" and captures the feeling of the ocean and the trees and the beaches that inspire me so much.
How it's made
Every piece starts as a lump of clay on the wheel — mugs, vases, plates, bowls, the functional stuff I've always loved making most. After it's thrown, it air-dries for about a day. Then I trim it: specialized tools, carving and shaping the clay into its final form. From there it's fired once to bake out all the air, which gets it ready for glaze — glass particles suspended in liquid that melt under a second, hotter gas fire and become a permanent part of the piece. Once it's out, it gets photographed for the web store and put on the floor here in Carmel.
One of my favorite things about handmade pottery is that no two pieces come out exactly the same.
Beyond the wheel
I love vintage shopping. Local thrift stores, estate sales, online marketplaces — if it catches my eye, I bring it home. I've found so many good books this way that the shop is practically turning into a vintage bookstore in its own right.
Kookies happened almost by accident: a friend on Maui had been sending us the cutest pants for our sons, and when we visited her store on a trip out there, we couldn't stop talking about them — so we asked if we could carry them here too. They said yes. We're now the only retailer in California.
Come find us
The shop is on Mission Street, two doors southwest of Ocean Avenue in Carmel-by-the-Sea — right next door to Tommy's Wok and Mission Bistro. Almost everyone who walks in our door comments on two things before they say anything else — how it smells (our signature candle, Palo Santo, incense matches, little soaps, always something in the air) and how the pottery feels in your hands. There's real weight to it, and it's balanced — the mugs sit right, the pinch cups fit like they were made for your palm. None of that comes through in a photo. Visit us in person next time you're in town, but in the meantime, you can shop our web-store 24/7.