Miguel Contreras may be known around town for his role on the School Committee, but he is now making new waves with his pottery hobby and sales at local festivals and markets.

Miguel’s Handiwork sells a variety of handmade pottery items in different shapes, sizes and colors. Contreras has made dishes, bowls, cat-faced dishes, pitchers and glasses. He called some of the items “quirky,” but admitted that’s part of the fun.

“It’s very hands-on,” Contreras said. “It’s more of a hobby.”

Contreras started pottery as a way to de-stress from his main job in health care. He began about three years ago after taking a class with his son. The parent-child pottery class required pairs to create items together. Contreras’ son ended up with a cat-shaped pottery piece that he still has, but he wasn’t as interested in continuing as Contreras turned out to be.

“I enjoyed it. I just kind of kept going back,” Contreras said. “This was the year I was like, ‘OK, let’s see if we can sell some of it.’ I’m hoping I can do new things with new space.”

Contreras recently moved to a smaller studio space in Peabody called Pudgy’s Place. He said the group that attends Pudgy’s Place collaborates often and shares tips on colors and new methods.

“I really like the little community there,” Contreras said. “You get to see the same people every week and say, ‘This is what I’m thinking of doing. Do you have any ideas?’”

He does a lot of hand-building, or shaping clay with his hands and simple tools, primarily through pinching, coiling and building functional pieces. Contreras flattens balls of clay and cuts out the pieces he needs before assembling them.

“My studio instructor, since she teaches classes, I did one of her classes, and she said, ‘This is the one thing in your life where you’re actually doing all four elements at once,’” Contreras said. “You’re touching earth. You have to control your breathing while you’re doing all of this. You’re working with water, and your end result gets fired.”

Contreras said he is most proud of a few platters he has made. He has also used his Cricut Maker skills to add lettering to his pottery.

Overall, he tries not to put too much pressure on the final product.

“I’m already stressed enough with work, and having to focus on pulling things up or centering is already enough,” Contreras said. “I’m not going to worry about the design being 100% perfect. If it brings a little joy to people, that’s enough.”

One of Miguel’s Handiwork’s taglines is “bringing a little joy to the world, one piece at a time.”

“I feel like everyone’s tired of all the hyper-consumer, same kind of things. Plus, a lot of the colors are really ugly,” Contreras said. “I’m trying to build very functional pieces so that you can actually use them in your day-to-day, and it’s not just like a thing that’s there.”

Now, Miguel’s Handiwork has made an appearance at the Swampscott Farmers Market as well as the town’s Christmas Festival.

“Everybody was looking for a gift. I tried to keep things very reasonable for people so that way you can leave with something since it’s the holidays,” Contreras said. 

There is also the possibility that Contreras will expand Miguel’s Handiwork to include some of his sewing creations.

Miguel’s handiwork can be found at miguelshandi.work or on Instagram at @miguels.handiwork.