Pottery, or at least the kind that Andrew Sanders creates, must be functional.

"That's my specialty," the co-owner of Baca Street Pottery said, "to make things that work, and hopefully to make them look nice, too."

Take teapots, for example. Or coffee cups.

"I make a mug with a handle that is really comfortable," the 56-year-old British-born Sanders said. "It feels good. You will gravitate to the piece in the cupboard because it has a good feel to it. ... You don't want something that's going to dribble down the side when you take a mouthful."

The same with teapots. "I make teapots that work. And that sounds a bit strange, but you'd be amazed that people make teapots where it is absolutely impossible to brew tea in them. ... I make teapots so that your fingers don't get jammed up against the hot pot. ... You can pour out the tea without the lid dropping off."

Sanders and one of his former pottery students, Lee Onstott, 69, opened Baca Street Pottery in May — after taking about four months to refurbish the place — and already have a stable of potters who pay a monthly fee to shape their own works in the spacious 2,600-square-foot workshop and gallery at 730 Baca St., formerly Sena's auto repair garage.

The two men have long been hiking pals, and Onstott is a member of the Santa Fe County search-and-rescue team and a career civil engineer who came to serious pottering after retirement.

Sanders studied and created pottery around Europe before landing in Santa Fe via Indianapolis in 1999, with a few years out for a pottery studio in Dixon.

Sanders said that to encourage cooperation and a sense of camaraderie, the studio "has an open space and stations where people can work. But basically the whole studio is open."

"The people who come here have a place to work and access to the facilities and kilns," Onstott said.

"This is great because there is a small group of us and we take inspiration from each other,' said Nina Harrison, who has been creating her work at Baca Street Pottery for about two months.

Harrison, one of seven potters or pottery students at Baca Street, said she began creating porcelain pieces and moved on to micaceous clay works, including small dioramas.

Norbert Mendez, a former alcohol and drug abuse counselor, just recently threw himself into pottery with Onstott and Sanders as his teachers.

"I am happy and lucky to be here," Mendez said as he showed off some of his first works — small cups and bowls in the gallery, which adjoins the studio.

Potters pay $300 a month for unlimited use of the studio, which covers firing costs, studio space and glazes. Two of the potters pay $200 a month to use the studio up to eight hours a week.

"We are not trying to make money at it," said Sanders, who owns the building and leases it to the business. "We are trying to cover our expenses, and make it a communal and co-op-like idea"

However, the potters make and sell their works independently, though they can show in the gallery, where the business gets
20 percent of the sales.

The gallery also features Onstott's various works in micaceous clay.

The studio will be participating in the upcoming Baca Street studio tour the weekend of Dec. 2.

ON THE WEB

• www.bacastreetpottery.com.