How Chai Creations builds a cohesive visual identity with Photoroom
The challenge: Chai, a psychologist by day and ceramicist by night, started Chai Creations as a creative outlet. As her pottery skills grew, she faced the challenge of presenting her unique double-walled ceramics professionally without investing time and resources into complex photography setups.
Our solution: Chai discovered Photoroom through a recommendation from a fellow ceramicist. The app's AI-powered background remover and editing tools allowed her to create professional-looking product photos quickly and easily, even for her complex ceramic pieces.
The results: Since adopting Photoroom, Chai Creations has achieved a more professional and cohesive visual identity. The app has saved Chai significant time, allowing her to focus more on creating ceramics. Using AI Backgrounds, she can now explore different presentation styles for her work, even inspiring her booth setups for craft fairs and markets.
A journey of creative balance from psychology to pottery
When Chai, a school psychologist, started Chai Creations three years ago, it was more than just a hobby—it was an opportunity to find work-life balance and embrace the joy of being a beginner again. "My job title does imply that I'm the expert, I'm supposed to have the answers," Chai explains. "I wanted to be able to get comfortable with the sense of exploring something and being new to something. And ceramics became sort of my medium for that."
Starting from scratch, Chai's first attempts at pottery were far from perfect. She describes her first pot as "terrible" with uneven walls and a crack on the bottom. But her persistence paid off. Today, Chai creates complex double-walled pieces that are recognized for their unique style.
Chai handles all aspects of her creative practice, from creating ceramics to marketing and promotion. While her business growth has been gradual, it has evolved from serving friends and family to attracting clients who specifically seek out her work.
"Now there's a lot more people who know me through my ceramics, including other ceramicists," Chai says proudly. "The first time I get to know them, we connect over my art. "
How Photoroom became Chai's go-to photography tool
As Chai's skills improved and her business expanded, she faced a new challenge: presenting her work professionally online and in applications for markets and craft shows. The process of setting up for product photography was time-consuming and often frustrating.
"I was trying to apply to markets or post on social media in a more professional and aesthetically unified way. And I was having a lot of difficulty with that. Every time I wanted to take a picture, I would hold my phone up and realize I had to clear so many things off the table. By the time I did all of it, the lighting wasn't as good anymore. It was just very frustrating." - Chai, Founder of Chai Creations
Chai found herself in a common dilemma for many artisans: the need for professional-looking photos without the resources or desire to invest in complex photography equipment or skills. As far as Chai is concerned, she loves photography as an art form but is not interested in learning it as a skill.
A fellow ceramicist suggested trying Photoroom, and Chai was immediately open to it. "I tried the app. And I think I very quickly began spending a lot of time just trying out different features for fun," she says. Now, she uses it a lot for her visuals, especially when creating promotional materials for her pop-ups at a local gift store or farmer’s market.
Chai’s favorite Photoroom feature that changed her aesthetics
Chai uses Photoroom in several innovative ways to enhance her product photography and streamline her creative process. She primarily relies on the AI Backgrounds feature, which she finds quick and easy to use, especially as someone with no prior photo editing experience.
I use Photoroom to make a collection of photos look more aesthetically unified. I might make pieces at different time points or photograph them in different places, so it can look very messy. If I want pieces with the same theme or part of the same series to have a plain pastel background, Photoroom is an easy way to do it. If I bought a physical backdrop, it would all just be the same shade of pink, and that would be a little boring." - Chai, Founder of Chai Creations.
Photoroom also allows Chai to enhance the themes of her pieces. For floral-themed ceramics, she adds floral backgrounds, and for pieces with fish motifs, she uses ocean wave backgrounds to increase visual drama. She also uses Photoroom to experiment with different booth setups for craft fairs and markets. She can try various tablecloth options virtually before making a physical purchase, saving time and money.
"What always fascinates me is no matter what orientation I take the picture in, the app sort of picks it up so that my art is not floating in the air or in some awkward position. It's like if I stack my cups or if they're taken lying on the ground, the app can somehow make it make sense, as if I brought the piece to the actual place to take the photos." - Chai, Founder of Chai Creations
For Chai, Photoroom has been instrumental in professionalizing her brand and saving time. The app has not only improved the presentation of her pieces but also allowed her to focus more on creating.
"It makes the presentation of my pieces more professional and saves me a lot of time, which means I'm actually spending more time making things and not being discouraged by the difficulty of photography." - Chai, Founder of Chai Creations
Photoroom has helped Chai prioritize what's most important in her practice, which is the art itself. The app allows her to achieve professional results without diverting her focus from ceramics.
Looking forward to artistic growth with Photoroom
As Chai Creations continues to grow, Chai is excited about participating in more shows in galleries, which allows her to create more conceptual and less practical pieces. She's also looking forward to further exploring her signature double-walled aesthetic.
Chai continues to find new ways to use Photoroom, from creating unified collections of her work to experimenting with backgrounds that complement her pieces' themes.
"I really enjoy the photos where there's some type of interaction between my piece and the background, and suddenly it goes from being a small piece to feeling much grander and more dramatic." - Chai, Founder of Chai Creations.
Chai enthusiastically recommends Photoroom to others, emphasizing its ease of use and the wealth of features available even in the free version.
"Just try it out and have fun with it. I think that's what I did and it was very easy to use. I very quickly became excited about trying it for multiple things. - Chai, Founder of Chai Creations
Try Photoroom yourself today! Available on Android, iOS, or the Web.
Follow Chai Creations on Instagram to see how Chai continues to use Photoroom to elevate her unique ceramic art.
