The Story behind PepinoMatcha

Welcome! To the first PepinoMatcha blog and today we will be kicking off the New Year with the story behind PepinoMatcha - how it all started and how it grew into what it is today.

PepinoMatcha first started out as an art account in order to hold myself accountable for my own artistic growth as well as to document my personal journey. At the time, I was exploring watercolor and refining my skills with different techniques. In relation to my watercolor art style, I decided to create the account under the “feeling” I thought my painting style conveyed: calm, cool, and refreshing aka PepinoMatcha. “Pepino” cucumber in Spanish and “Matcha” the Japanese ceremonial tea. Harmoniously, two of my cultural backgrounds: Mexican and Japanese.

At the time, I left my job due to some challenging circumstances and before jumping back into another job, I decided to take a break before reentering the workforce. With this opportunity, I took advantage to reconnect to my artistic side, a part of me that I have been neglecting. In the past, I would dabble in arts and crafts -here and there-  focusing only on a project rather than the craft at hand. Essentially, I wanted to transition from crafty to skilled artwork.

I started with life drawing classes, sketching everyday, and watercoloring. While these one-time classes were fun I wanted to expand my learning beyond the one time $15 life drawing class. With limited funds, I decided to stay within a tight budget of less than $100 a class. A huge feat, I know, but I figured community art classes would be affordable. Lo and behold, I stumbled upon a local community ceramic class that was $60 for two months!

Not only was I excited but also very nervous. I had some anxiety to go to class and meeting new people. So I asked my friend to tag along which allowed me to get more acclimated to the class and people. 

The class focused on handbuilding and included projects like a mug, pebble bowl, box, and sphere. To be honest, I didn’t enjoy ceramics at first. The pieces I made just didn’t match the vision in my head, and I felt discouraged. But with support from my classmates—and the reminder that I had paid for the class—I decided to not make a quick judgement and sign up for another session.

This was when I started to experiment and find different styles and techniques that brought me excitement. Alongside, my family and friends kept asking to see updates on my journey. So I decided to dust off the art account  (abandoned for 5 months) and started posting on there. In giving the people what they wanted, I started to post in order to share my work but also to see my own growth once again.

Sure, I considered changing the account name to better reflect my ceramics, but at the time my artistic style wasn't discovered yet. So in still keeping the theme of my own cultural background, I kept PepinoMatcha. Over time, the account has grown into something much more than just an art account. It’s a reflection of my journey, my cultural roots, and my love for the craft.

A few years later, here we are—PepinoMatcha Ceramics, handmade by me; Jessie Michiko. Welcome if you’re new here. I am excited to continue this blog format to get more personal with you all.