Kiara Matos Opens Doors On Orange Street

A customer walked into Kiara Matos’s new storefront ceramics studio and gallery on Orange Street looking to buy two matching mugs she had seen earlier on the shelf. The problem: In between visits, another customer had come in and already bought one of them.

“Don’t worry,” Matos said. ​“I’ll make more.”

“You’re doing well!” the customer beamed.

Matos has been a potter for 25 years. She can trace the roots of her craft to a visit in New Haven when she was a teenager visiting from Venezuela. She has now lived here for a decade with her family and noted that many of the milestones in her life — graduation from school, marriage — had passed casually.

Opening a storefront studio and gallery has been different.

“This is my graduation, my wedding, all those things, all at once,” she said. ​“I’ve always wanted a storefront.”

For the past 10 years Matos, who had a successful career as a potter in Venezuela, steadily grew her business in the U.S. from a studio in the basement of her house in East Rock, by doing exhibitions, setting up a website, and going to trade shows twice a year, developing a loyal customer base.

“People started collecting it,” she said of her work, whether to populate their own houses or to give as gifts to friends. ​“There are two comments I get a lot — that ​‘your work is very unique’ and ​‘your work makes me happy.’ That fills me up. Because I am so happy doing what I do,” she said with humility. ​“It couldn’t get better.”

Her work ranges from cups, bowls, plates, and other artfully functional pieces to decorative pieces like wall mirrors and vases to small sculptures of birds and snakes. She has honed her craft by diligent work, by trial and error, and by exploration. ​“It’s been research for every color,” she said, experimenting with both clay and glaze to get the hues and textures she wants. She guessed that she did about 100 test firings to get a particular shade of blue she wanted.

“To be a ceramicist, you need to be very stubborn,” she said.

She had always liked the idea of opening a storefront studio and gallery, for the interaction with artists, friends, and random pedestrians it could engender. ​“With Covid, everyone was talking about how hard it was to socially distance. I have been socially distancing for 25 years,” she said.

At the same time, taking on the storefront represents a leap. She officially opened the studio this month and ​“I freaked out the first week,” she said with a laugh. ​“I’ve always easily done the work for eight hours a day,” but the regular store hours are a change of pace; working from home, ​“I’ve had that easy life where I could stop and go for a run,” she said.

On the other hand, the change in work-life balance is welcome. ​“I had let this invade my home life completely,” she said. Now she’s able to divide her time more cleanly between work and family. She even welcomes the interruptions in her studio work from customers coming in to see what she has on offer; it is, of course, why she opened the storefront in the first place.

“That’s the bet,” she said. So far, it seems to be working out. ​“So many passersby have come in and been interested in my work.”

Matos and her family moved to New Haven from Venezuela a decade ago after her husband, Andrea Corazzini (who owns Whole G Bakery), had a close call with kidnappers there. (Read about that in this previous Independent article.)

Matos had also visited the Elm City as a teenager as part of an exchange program. In fact, ​“I learned how to do ceramics in New Haven,” Matos said.

That was when ​“Venezuela was like Saudi Arabia,” rich with oil money and considered a Latin American success story. Her mother had created a ceramics studio in her house, but ​“nobody had time” to use it regularly

While learning English in New Haven — and staying with her ​“New Haven mom” Elizabeth Magenheimer — she took up an apprenticeship with area potters Maishe Dickman, Stephen Rodriguez, and Hayne Bayless.

She returned to Venezuela and continued to develop her craft. She grew her ceramics trade while Corazzini was in the textile business. But after the kidnapping incident, and with Venezuela’s general decline, the writing was on the wall, and they decided to leave.

The question was where to go. Matos thought of New Haven. They moved here; Corazzini started Whole G, and she kept making ceramics.

“We came here to make it, and we have not stopped,” Matos said. ​“And we have four children — we have to make it.”

She now has her own full ceramics line and is working on projects with an interior designer in addition to establishing the storefront. ​“I’m a little too spread out right now,” she said with a laugh. At the same time, she said, ​“I would love to expand enough that I can have people to help with production.” Teaching pottery lessons out of the space is another future possibility she’s considering.

“It’s still a bet,” Matos said. ​“I want to see if I can have that studio storefront model and see where it goes.” And at the studio’s core is the work itself. ​“I am a maker. I need to see things happen,” she said. ​“I need to keep my hands busy.”

Matos’s studio and gallery are at 137 Orange St. Visit Matos’s website for hours and more information.