The Origin of Well Traveled Wares
Nicole (hi, that's me) is the artist behind Well Traveled Wares, but what is that exactly? Great question! The origin of WTW comes from a love of architecture and design. I grew up outside of NYC, and always admired the city and the imposing skyline of buildings. I can't tell you how much time I spent on subways and trains sketching people, and little scenes from my adventures in mass transit.
But my inspiration vacillates over the years, between the organic and the architecture, so it wasn't until the big construction boom in Portland, around 2012 that I started back up with my city art. This time it found its way from sketchbooks, to painted canvas and pottery. I was obsessed! Right about the same time, I also quit my corporate job to focus on art making.
I was Nicole M Curcio Art for a long time before I decided my business needed a name. I wanted something that wouldn't forever tie me to making cityscape art, but something more open to all the ideas that were sure to come from the travels related to my wanderlust. So Well Traveled Wares felt perfect- playing on "well traveled" to also mean something that is well made and long lasting. And I aspired to one day be considered a well traveled human in the truer sense of the phrase.
The Evolution of Well Traveled Wares
It's a good thing I thought ahead, because shortly after naming my business, the pandemic of 2020 happened and I completely changed all of my designs to be organic and inspired by nature and house plants. Not a cityscape to be seen! This is also when my pottery really took off online. Suddenly I sending my art all over the USA, and it was truly well traveled!
It was also about this time we got serious about moving out of the US. We had a short list of places, with the goal of opening a community ceramics studio and residency/retreat program. After lots of research we landed on Portugal and dove headfirst in to figuring out how to make it happen. There were several visits, lots of networking, lots of paperwork, and that was before we started searching for the perfect location in Portugal.
Well Traveled Wares Moves to Portugal
In September 2024 we moved to Portugal and Well Traveled Wares has evolved again and taken on another new meaning. While it's still the name of my pottery business, it's also the name of the community studio and residency program. Now we have students and resident artists from all over the world, making their own ceramics and traveling with them to new and exciting places.
The current trajectory is to to teach a couple classes and workshops each week, while hosting 2-3 resident artists at a time. As we grow we'll offer memberships, more retreats, and host workshops taught by other local artists. Oh! And Well Traveled Wares pottery will soon be sold here- mostly made in Portugal, with an annual trip to the US to make work from my Portland studio.
I'm Not a One Woman Show Anymore
Part of figuring out this wild dream of mine, was to admit that I couldn't do it alone. And while we aren't big enough to hire full time employees, I do have a group of 3 fabulous people (and two dogs) that help me keep moving things forward when I need the help. I'd love to introduce them to you (go ahead and click the button below)!