A dream a young couple had when they met in their early 20s came to fruition last Friday when they officially opened 'Sessle B's Studio' in North Lismore.

Seth and Lara Bell are creative entrepreneurs who had a strong desire to open an artistic space that served the community they love. For over ten years, Seth and Lara have not only been building a family (three boys) in East Lismore they have been working towards a goal of running their own business.

"It's been our dream since we got together to have a creative business and to have our own premises. And, we've kind of pursued our creativity in many ways in that time. We've done markets and had more side businesses, but having young kids and just the pressures of life kind of kept us from really jumping in," Lara explained.

"We wanted to prioritise the kids early on," Seth added, "We just wanted to make sure we were there for the kids in their formative years."

Both Seth and Lara are fairly well known in the Northern Rivers.

Lara was born at Lismore Base Hospital and grew up in the region with her parents owning a property near Casino. Lara has also been a reporter for the Lismore App.

Seth has been an art teacher for the last 15 years. The last two were at Summerland Christian College in Goonellabah, where he continues to teach four days a week, and in Casino before that.

The big flood in 2022 provided an opportunity for the Bell's after the devastation of having over six feet of water through their family's raised house in East Lismore.

"We were dealing with that (the flood), for a good year and just recuperating from the financial loss and the physical loss and the trauma of that."

"I guess it's true of life, you know, most situations that are bad have an opportunity that comes with it. We had the opportunity to purchase this building and when we looked at it, we just knew. We walked in, not expecting too much and just instantly looked at each other and went this is it, it's perfect."

As for the business itself, Sessle B's Studio offers a variety of pottery workshops for both adults and kids which will expand as the business grows.

"We have adult social classes of wheel throwing. We've got clay and sip evening classes, coffee and clay morning classes that are two-hour social sessions," Lara explained.

(Seth teaching one of the first pottery wheel classes at Sessle B's Studio in Bridge Street)

"We also offer a more immersive four-hour class for people wanting to dive a bit deeper into different techniques. We offer kids holiday workshops. We have an eight-week NDIS program and kids NDIS after-school program."

"We also offer private clay party's so if anyone wants to have a booking with friends for birthday or a baby shower or team building, we can facilitate that and tailor something to suit their needs"

Apart from the fun social aspect, you would also get to take away something from the classes or a few weeks later once they had been fired in the kiln.

(Evie Fletcher creates clay flowers during her class)

"You'd have at least one potentially two finished products depending on your experience, Seth said, "It could be a mug or a small bowl, a couple of bowls, that sort of thing if you're doing a real throwing session."

"If you're doing hand building, then within a couple of hours, if you're doing a kids class, you leave with a pinch pot and fridge magnets, that kind of thing. And then the adult session, a more advanced refined version of a pinch pot or slab rolled vessel. So you'd build a vessel out of slabs basically."

While it is in the early days of Sessle B's Studio, where do Seth and Lara see the business in five years?

"We want to be offering a good range of different workshops to cater to a lot of different demographics. We want to build our memberships. That's another thing we're going to be offering is monthly membership subscriptions where people can pay a monthly fee, they'll have PIN code access to the studio to use the equipment as much as they like around our timetable of classes and additional members benefits so we'd really like to build our member base up."

"While teaching pottery classes, Seth also has his own ceramic line, so as time allows, he'll have more opportunity to focus on his own craft which we can sell here but with a big focus online as well."

"We want to have a big events focus. The space next door can be used in conjunction with a workshop for larger events, team building or Christmas parties or anything that might want to have a clay class but also spill over to the function room which will have a coffee machine. Our long-term plan is to have a bar and small commercial kitchen up and running and we will be offering catering for small events in that space next door as well."

Seth and Lara know only too well they have bought and renovated a building that will flood at some point in time. Like most old Lismore buildings, it has strong bones and was built to withstand floods and many of them have over the last fifty years.

"We don't have any concerns around flooding. We've been really flood-aware in everything we have done so it's a quick removal and a quick clean-out when it does happen next."

The rest of the North Lismore business community is also excited to see Seth and Lara opening their doors.

"It's definitely thinned out since the flood but I mean anyone that is here is very excited. I guess it gives hope to see someone investing, and not just jumping in, but putting everything they have into it and creating something beautiful. I think it's helpful to people to see that and it's just encouraging to know that there are people that love this place, love this community and are willing to put every penny they have to make it work."

You can find Seth and Lara at Sessle B's Studio at 19 Bridge Street, North Lismore, just down from the Winsome or check them out online https://www.sesslebs.com.au/.