About Sonie Ames

Sonie Ames Designs, Inc.
About the Lady, About the Company

A history of the company, Sonie Ames Designs, is really the history of Sonie Ames, the Rose Lady of porcelain art. When Sonie first started painting on porcelain, she didn't dream that some day she and her husband, Chester, would establish a business based upon her work.

She grew up in a small town in Utah where her father was a farmer. The family was not wealthy, so as a young girl it was important for her to learn a craft that would enable her to help support herself. She was hired in the local woolen mills to learn the construction of men's suits. Her tailoring ability developed, and she was soon making her own clothes as well as clothing for family and friends. She married Chester when she was seventeen years old, and they eventually moved to California. There she continued to make clothing in her spare time as she raised her own family. As her toddlers grew and time allowed, she launched a successful 27-year career as a designer dressmaker.

But this work was tedious and demanding. Sonie experienced what we now call "burnout," with symptoms ranging from fatigue to illness. She consulted a doctor, who told her that she wasn't seriously ill, but that she should get more exercise. More importantly, she should give up her career and do something she really liked to do. She took his advice and began with the exercise - she walked home from the doctor's office.

On the way home she chanced to pass a craft shop where several varieties of handiwork were in progress. A beautiful hand painted porcelain plate was displayed in the window. Sonie, always known for her artistic ability, knew in an instant that this art form was one she wanted to pursue. This would be her new interest. She went into the shop with the idea of finding a teacher. In those days, teachers of porcelain art were few in number and difficult to find. She secured a clerking position in the shop and in spare time learned about painting and firing ceramics. This was not enough for Sonie. She was interested in the fine art of painting on porcelain. Luckily she found a teacher to get her started - Sonie finally began the art form she admired most. It's particularly interesting to note that when Sonie picked up her square shader for the first time to paint on porcelain she was fifty years of age!

For the next few years, Sonie studied with numerous teachers, each one uniquely valuable to her. She was quick to develop her own techniques as she went along, to "push the paint" with her brush, to make the brush do what she wanted it to do. She practiced, practiced, practiced and then shared her new techniques with fellow students. She liked this aspect very much - the sharing of her own techniques. The students began asking her to teach them on a regular basis. So Sonie started allowing the students to come to her own home. At first, each student placed her work on a TV tray. They sat around in one room as Sonie worked with each one. This couldn't last long! More room was needed. Chester came to the rescue, and the garage was converted to make a studio, complete with a kiln to fire the painted china. Sonie then knew that she needed a color photo of the lesson subject for each student to study in class, and to keep for home practice. Chester to the rescue again! He photographed Sonie's art pieces and had multiple prints made to distribute to the students. It soon became evident that these little snapshots were not big enough, so photography for this purpose was abandoned. They needed professional prints made. They had to find a printer who could do the necessary photography and produce the needed prints in a more usable size. High quality was required to reproduce the art pieces faithfully. The process was very costly, and Sonie and Chester debated about whether they should take their savings to invest in the printing of four subjects. This was a very stressful decision to make because if the prints did not sell, near financial disaster for Sonie and Chester would result. Now Sonie and Chester were not the sort of people to gamble - it was against their principals. But on this project, gamble they did. And it worked! The prints sold, the money was put safely back in their savings account, and a new business was launched. Chester became the full-time business manager. Sonie set out to teach and paint with new enthusiasm. Sonie Ames Designs was established in 1964.

Chester published Sonie's new designs frequently as Sonie increased her teaching schedule and began to show her work at trade shows, both local and international in scope. Her excellent work was noticed and her reputation as a porcelain artist flourished. She was invited to conduct seminars throughout the United States and in foreign countries as well. Sonie and Chester traveled during the summer months to conduct seminars and attend trade shows while the remaining months were devoted to teaching and holding seminars in Sonie's home studio.

In 1972 Sonie and Chester moved to Paradise, California, bringing Sonie Ames Designs with them. As the years progressed, family in Oregon gave Chester a much needed hand at conducting a mail-order service, moving it to their Oregon location. Meanwhile, Sonie and Chester's son, Bill, visited them in Paradise on a regular basis. It was he who recognized the need to incorporate Sonie Ames Designs, and the company became incorporated early in 1978. By January 1981, Bill and his wife, Corinne, moved to Paradise to assist Sonie and Chester as they were now quite elderly. Part of the assistance was to establish the corporate business office in Paradise, at the request of Sonie and Chester. Chester's health was failing, and he died in 1982. But with the help of Bill and Corinne, Sonie continued to paint beautiful art pieces on porcelain, and to teach a few students on a limited basis. Sonie Ames Designs, Inc. was conducting the usual mail order business in the

U.S.A.

and to foreign locations as well. It became evident that a mail-order service in one state and a corporate business office in another was much less than ideal. Combining the two operations into one location was necessary, so Sonie, in her wisdom, decided to have the mail-order service returned to Paradise, California at the end of May 1988, where it is today. Bill and Corinne Ames became corporate officers along with Sonie and were now given complete responsibility for Sonie Ames Designs, Inc. They can be reached at the addresses given on the order page in this web site.