A Calne mum has turned a difficult period in her life into a new business designed to give people somewhere to slow down, switch off and get creative.
Hannah, 41, is the owner of Serenity Ceramics, a pottery painting studio in Church Street, Calne which she created after deciding it was time for a change.
Married to Carl and mum to Lewis and Olivia, Hannah had spent much of her working life in management roles but had never owned a business herself.
That changed following a difficult period with her mental health in 2025, when she decided she could no longer continue with the pressures of corporate life.
“I'd always been the manager but never the owner, and after quite a big breakdown in 2025 I decided enough was enough,” Hannah said.
“I couldn't cope with the stress of a corporate role anymore and felt I needed some peace and calm in my life. That's when Serenity Ceramics really became an idea.”
The studio was designed to be more than somewhere to paint pottery.
Hannah wanted to create a space where people could put the pressures of everyday life to one side for a couple of hours and simply enjoy being creative.
“I wanted to create a space where the chaos of daily life can be left at the door and people can come and enjoy being creative and have that downtime we all need,” she said.
“It's about putting the phones and tablets away for a couple of hours and just enjoying being there.”
The name Serenity Ceramics was chosen for much the same reason.
“The word serenity means a lot to me,” Hannah said. “It means a state of being calm, peaceful and untroubled, and that's really what I needed in my life.”
Since opening, Hannah says the studio has had an “absolutely amazing start”, with the atmosphere becoming as much a part of the experience as the pottery itself.
Now the business is taking another step forward with its own kiln.
Until now, Hannah has had to take customers' finished pottery elsewhere to be fired, adding extra journeys and costs and meaning customers have to wait longer to collect their work.
Local education organisation Blue Sky Learning has now offered to fund the purchase of a kiln for Serenity Ceramics.
Hannah said the donation will make a significant difference to the way the studio operates.
“The generous donation from Blue Sky Learning for my kiln is going to make a huge difference to customers' waiting times for their pottery, and to my time and expenses travelling to and from the kiln I currently use,” she said.
Having a kiln at the studio means more of the pottery process can now take place on site, while Hannah will have more time to concentrate on developing the business and the experience for customers.
Although Serenity Ceramics is still a young business, Hannah is already thinking about what could come next.
Her aim is to establish the studio as part of the Calne community and, if its early success continues, she hopes to open a second Serenity Ceramics in another nearby town within the next year.
For now, though, the focus remains on the original idea behind the business - creating somewhere people can spend a couple of hours away from the usual distractions and enjoy making something.
“The studio is off to an absolutely amazing start because of the atmosphere we have created,” Hannah said.
“Hopefully it continues for years to come.”
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