My name is Sage Cortez, the craftswoman behind Hand + Fire.

I am a maker focusing primarily on perfecting qualities of the hand within functional pottery. My work is intended to bring life into your home — to be a refresher in a world of casted, symmetrical, and manufactured goods.

I am an avid believer in an object’s life being engaged in its use. When thinking and making for H+F, I am looking towards a realistic and thoughtful way to endorse sustainability, as well as to keep myself engaged as a lover of things and as an artist. My items are meant to be versatile while still aesthetically pleasing, and easily integrated into your home to serve many functions.

Hand + Fire was started in 2016 and it’s been located in five very different places.

In the brands beginning years, I worked out of the space provided by my college in Portland. Pots were made in the ceramics department and I would then bring them up to photograph in my studio, which was a 9x15 foot curtained off corner of a room with a single window, zero privacy, and the constant sounds of artists at work and city life outside. It was here that I started participating in the tasks necessary to sell pots online. It’s where I wrapped my very first order and taught myself the art of photographing pottery for online sales.

It was (as it is now, but even more in the starting of H+F) absolutely crucial for my environment to feel comfortable to me. It needed the elements of a home with the functionality of a maker’s studio. I tried very hard to keep it neat and presentable in order to keep my mental image of the place feeling positive and productive. I, ultimately, was aiming to teach myself what daily making would look like because I knew, even then, that this was going to be my career—so I had to treat it as such.

Next was the move to Saint Helens, Oregon in June of 2017, where we bought a neglected home with big plans to spruce the place up.

Saint Helens is a blue collar town located 45 minutes from Portland. When we first moved in, it was primarily older in age, a tad resentful towards new comers, and was certainly much more “small town” than we anticipated. To put it straight, it was a huge change and a bigger challenge in creative drive.

We renovated the lower concrete half of our then 99 year old home into a working ceramic studio equipped with a 4x9’ working table, a used kiln purchased from Craigslist some 2 years prior, a wheel bought from my lovely cafe-side-job boss, and a couple shelves. I felt proud of what we had accomplished, but it just never felt like “me”.

No matter how grateful I was to have a space at all I struggled with home and work quite literally being overlapped. Along with the juggle of my weekend waitressing gig and a building lack of desire to create in this space I felt hugely disconnected from, I just couldn’t see how I could continue Hand + Fire in a place I didn’t feel motivated in. And I felt really unmotivated and low in this new studio.

So, when walking one melancholy evening down St. Helens’ Old Town streets I happened upon a handwritten “for rent” sign in the window of a vacant storefront, I barely hesitated to call.

A couple months later, after contract signing for the city, handshake agreements with the landlord, and countless licensed professionals in and out of the space, it was official! Hand + Fire was out of my home, it became a licensed business, and the balance of home to work to cafe life was going to be a good deal better when not all piled together in one group. 

It was in this studio in the months to follow that I became a full time potter - quitting my cafe job, terrified but determined, diving head first into creating a life of this “artist-thing”.

After just over a year and a half, my time in the store front studio came to an end. Frankly, I was outgrowing the space and was looking for something with more natural light, open space, and less public to distract me from my making. 

My partner and fellow artist, Joshua Hughes was also conveniently wrapping up his masters degree in visual studies at this time and also needed to find a studio to launch his practice. 

Together we were able to score our dream studio spaces within the historic John Gumm school built in 1919 — where we occupied the library and an attached classroom. The space was bright, spacious, often full of jazz, too many projects to keep up with, and my lively best friend, Chai. 

My favorite part of any move has always been setting it up to be a functioning maker environment - and this space was going to require a lot of it to get going straight off.

Utilizing the space to its best potential was still a problem solving situation to say the least. Making sure working furniture was easy to move (ie, so many caster wheels!), surfaces were designated for multiple and specific uses, and getting used to the minimal outlets in this old building were amongst the things constantly on my mind. In preparation for winter I found myself moving items around much more regularly to find their best places. It was a process I thoroughly enjoyed and often found myself planning late at night. Reorganizing is one of my favorite pass times, funny as it may be.

Now that we were all moved in and working in this larger space, I ramped up production thoroughly. Ashlin, my assistant, helped with the week’s tasks every Monday and Wednesday. She wrapped orders and tidied up the studio while I made up various new pots. Having an extra pair of hands was incredibly helpful in increasing productivity and sparking a great deal of inspiration.

Since going full-time-maker, life has changed drastically. I am a much more detail oriented person now. Life moves a bit slower and more methodically. I have routines which help to keep my mind on track when I get scattered. Hand + Fire is my inspiration towards being creative every day; whether it be clay, metal, wood, or a camera, I always am making something and I wouldn’t change that for anything.

Visitors are welcomed to the studio with an appointment made through email. handandfire@gmail.com