How (strangely) beautiful is this brand's ceramics!

Satabdi Jena, founder of The Strange Co, tells me about the joyful optimism of the brand!

Hello! 👋

The joy of holding ceramics is such a tender experience! ✨

Observing their shapes, the beautiful imperfections, and the pop of colour that adds life to the mundaneness of your everyday activities — ceramics are gorgeous. And I can't get enough of them.

I stumbled upon The Strange Co on Instagram and was instantly lured into its strange world. A ceramics brand and a design studio founded by Satabdi Jena, this homegrown Indian brand isn't your standard ceramics brand. Look at their stuff; you know it's home to zany crockery with merry doggos, dinos, and cats on them. Unconventional shapes meet blithe art at The Strange Co, which makes me curious.

So, I caught up with Satabdi Jena, founder and designer of The Strange Co, to find out what made her start the brand and other strange stuff.

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Sunaina: Please tell me about yourself and what inspired you to start The Strange Co.

Satabdi: I started Strange Co. to bring strange characters and stories I would draw to life. As an introvert, my medium of expression was illustration; writing about these characters and creating their universe was like creating an escape for myself from the mundane. When 2020 happened, I lost a lot of projects that I was working on; it was time to pivot from what I was doing and take a leap of faith. I tested the market by selling things I had made previously, and to my surprise, the market responded quite well; there was an immediate connection with the people. They resonated with these characters at a deeper level. I think that’s when Strange Co. was born! I worked on forming this brand with no strategy, jumping into the D2C market, and boom, the second wave hit. But in March 2021, we got our first order. That’s when things pretty much changed for us. 

Sunaina: What's your brand's philosophy?

The brand philosophy is straightforward; it is joyful optimism. We want to avoid fitting in as we all are misfits here. 

Sunaina: Can you tell me what goes into the production of your ceramics?

Satabdi: Before we jump into production, a story should resonate with us/me emotionally. If I can't feel it, I can't make it! Therefore, we don't have too many SKUs, and we don't have too many drops often. Whatever we want to bring out as a brand must have a strong resonance with us and be exciting enough to share with our Strangelings (we call anyone who loves Strange Co. as Strangeling in our studio).

After that, I write the story; every stroke you see on our product has been put intentionally. Then, we decide on the ware, shape, glaze, and size, create the mould, and start with the sampling by creating varied colour and texture options. After multiple iterations, we take feedback and send it for production. We do small batch production, as it's essential for us to maintain the quality.

Sunaina: How do you decide who to collaborate with? What made you collaborate with The Alipore Post?

Satabdi: Nowadays, it’s crucial to have different perspectives and collaborate not just as a brand but also have a collaborative outlook on everything. We have collaborated with brands and people with a similar ethos, whether it was Amazon Prime for a show, Roastery Coffee House for its mugs, Made with Spin for products, or The Alipore Post for its storytelling.

Sunaina: Apart from selling ceramics, you also host workshops. What can someone expect from these workshops?

Satabdi: Workshops are our way of opening our studio to share the joy of painting ceramics and bringing life to stories. Making memories for yourself or sharing those memories with your special ones adds greater value. It’s a fulfilling experience for the attendees and everyone at the studio. 

Sunaina: Why the name 'The Strange Co'?

Satabdi: About a decade back, someone had commented, looking at my illustrations, oh, these are strange, and that resonated so profoundly with me. That when it came to naming this brand, there was no second thought. We proudly own the strangeness in every aspect of life.

Sunaina: As a small business, can you share 2-3 challenges you face? 

Satabdi: As a self-funded startup, the challenges are similar to everyone in this sphere — production, funds, team building, and endless working hours. But what’s different is how you figure out these challenges.

Sunaina: If you had to pick three bestselling products, what would they be?

Satabdi: Misfits and Kanpai. Most of our collection is loved, as they hit at a deeper level with our customers.

Sunaina: What can we expect in the future?

Satabdi: More strangeness.

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So, that was my conversation with Satabdi. Follow The Strange Co on Instagram.

I’ll be back with another story soon. 👋