my rituals: ceramic artist rissa sandman of theCoastal + a giveaway! [now closed]

Coasters. I’d like to thank Pinterest, craft blogs, and Instagram photos of perfectly styled tabletops for popularizing this seemingly minuscule home decor detail. Now I’m nuts for them. The patterns, the colors, the shapes—who knew I’d be gaga for something that keeps water rings off precious tables?

But there I was gawking at Rissa Sandman’s coasters on Pinterest one fateful night. I loved the simplicity of her designs (hand-painted styles that come alive on a blank white slate) and the use of recycled cork on the bottom. (And by the way, she’s currently offering free shipping with a coupon code on her Etsy page!) Even amidst a huge wholesale order, the central Californian carved out time to share her rituals—and a giveaway for a set of handmade coasters! More on that below:

Name: Rissa Sandman
Age: 28
Hometown: Salinas, CA
Current city: Pacific Grove, CA
Professional title: Independent architectural consultant / designer, maker, and owner of theCoastal

Designing exercises. This is something I try to do weekly to keep my eye fresh, and my designing skills in shape. For these exercises, I usually start by drawing a triangle, square or single line. From there, I either rotate, mirror, divide, or multiply it, and then I stop drawing and visualize the next steps. I think about how the existing lines can intersect to create new shapes and voids, where to add new lines, and how experimenting with the negative and positive spaces of the design can create something completely new. Once I have the general design in mind, I make the changes, and lock it away until the next week. If I’m still intrigued and see potential, I transfer my sketch into AutoCAD and develop it for the coasters.

Polly. I have all of the symptoms and can confidently and proudly state that I am in love (obsessed) with my dog. Polly is my little yorkie rescue, and she is responsible for day brightening, stress relieving and mood boosting. Everything having to do with Polly makes me happy and makes me smile, so spending time with her is high up on my list of priorities.

Drives down the coast to Big Sur. When I was younger, I remember telling my parents that Big Sur was my favorite place in the world, and even though I wasn’t quite a world traveler, I was confident that it would at least remain in my top 5 once I was older. Those feelings still hold true to this day. I’ve been fortunate enough to live close to Big Sur my entire life, so any time I long for the coastline and redwoods, my husband and I hop in the car and drive. The stretch of the coast from where I live to Big Sur is unreal, and the combined smell of the redwoods, campfires and ocean is a huge bonus.

Daydreaming of Iceland. When my husband and I returned from Iceland last year, we went through a serious mourning period. I suppose this is a somewhat regular occurrence when a vacation ends, but this time, it felt different. Iceland was pure magic, and it sincerely changed our lives. During our travels around the country, we chatted about how it would be a dream to live there. All I needed to hear was that my husband was as excited about the idea as I was. From there, my imagination had it covered. As soon as our plane whisked us back home to California, I began sketching the house we were going to hand-build on the chunk of property we were going to buy with all of the money we didn’t have. My husband was going to become a very successful and respected hay farmer, and I was going to knit sweaters out of the hand-spun yarn I made from the wool I sheared off of the flock of sheep I raised. After we had saved up enough money, we could finally retire and build our own inn (also built by hand of course). I welcome these daydreams, because having this crazy active imagination that creates a future I know will most likely never become a reality has brought me so much happiness. They have kept me entertained when I’ve been painting for days straight, and they motivate me to work harder towards the kind of success that would at least help make a few more visits a reality. Hand-painting all of my coasters can be quite tedious, so whenever I need an escape, I daydream of Iceland.

You can also find Rissa on Facebook and Instagram.

Ready to get one of Rissa’s designs for yourself? Together, we’re giving away one set of four ceramic coasters to one lucky reader!

The details:
1. Enter via the Rafflecopter widget below. There are multiple ways to enter, so the more times you enter, the better your chances of winning.
2. The contest will run until 8 p.m. PST on Thursday, May 8, after which a winner will be chosen at random.
3. Open to U.S. residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, and have a great weekend!

All photos by Rissa Sandman