About Us.

We are sisters Karen and Vanessa, and together we are bringing Communally Curative Creatives to Budleigh. Creativity has always been part of our family story. Our Dad, lan Batten, owned Chard Pottery in Somerset and later set up a pottery at Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park, where our Nana worked just above his workshop in the Craft Centre. Surrounded by clay and creativity from an early age, it's no surprise that making and sharing have always been in our blood.

Karen went on to study a BA (Hons) Degree in Sculpture at Kingston University, before moving to Chelsea to live with our father. There, she helped him run community pottery classes, even teaching the wife and daughter of actor Michael Caine along the way. For almost two years, she has been running weekly pottery sessions every Thursday, which will now continue and grow within this new creative hub.

Vanessa, meanwhile, has spent years running her own demanding business, developing the business skills, organisation, and determination that now bring balance to this venture. While she hasn't followed a formal creative path until now, she has always had a love for making and is itching to explore this side of herself more fully as part of Communally Curative Creatives.

Between us, we have raised eight children, built very different but complementary careers, and collected more ideas than we can possibly count. Now in our fifties, with our families grown, the time feels perfect to bring all of this together.

Communally Curative Creatives is more than a shop - it's a community space for workshops, exhibitions, conversations, and creativity in all its forms. We are beyond excited to open the doors and share this adventure with you.