NHS Grad Wyeth Milne Showcased In Etsy Olympic Commercial

Wyeth Milne, a talented potter and entrepreneur who grew up on Nantucket, has garnered international attention with her appearance in Etsy’s "Keep Commerce Human" campaign, which is airing during the 2024 Paris Olympics. Her journey, which began while taking a ceramics class at Nantucket High School, has translated to her owning a thriving pottery business and studio in San Diego - a testament to her passion and dedication to her craft.

Milne found herself enjoying ceramics so much in high school that she began learning techniques and watching tutorials on her own time. She then began volunteering at the Artists Association of Nantucket, working to earn participation in more ceramics classes to hone her talent.

“I took ceramics classes with Ms. Merlini and fell in love with working with clay there,” Milne says. “Then I convinced her to let me use the wheel by watching a lot of YouTube videos and learning initially through that."

After graduating from NHS in 2016, Milne went to Pratt in New York City, where she majored in fine arts with an emphasis on sculpture and integrated practices, and triple minored in ceramics, museum and gallery practices, and history of art and design. Graduating from Pratt in 2020, Milne faced the uncertainties brought by the COVID-19 Pandemic. She moved to San Diego, California in August of that year, initially planning to attend graduate school.

Instead, she began juggling multiple jobs, from working in food service to teaching pottery at various studios, all while creating her own pottery from her small studio apartment. Not yet with her own studio, Milne would transport her pieces back and forth between each stage of the process – from her apartment to studios an hour away for firing.

“I went back to doing food service, which I had been doing since I was 13 on island, and then I also dipped my toe into teaching at various pottery studios around the city,” Milne explained. “I learned a lot through that – mostly what I wouldn’t do if I had my own pottery studio, and it also gave me a way to fire my work.”

Selling her creations through Etsy, Milne’s "Whimsy by Wyeth" pottery line quickly gained recognition and developed a customer base, which has now grown immensely after almost four years.

Now, Milne has a pottery studio, Pinch, located in downtown San Diego, which is a boutique shop where she both creates and sells her work and teaches pottery classes to small groups and individuals, making the process much more personal.

“I’m trying to elevate the pottery experience,” Milne explains. “I’m trying to elevate it to more of a boutique standard, as well as niche, down to small hands on lessons as opposed to the classic large scale group lessons.”

Milne’s success put her on Etsy's radar, especially after Drew Barrymore, who acts as Etsy’s chief gifting officer, highlighted two of her products – the daisy mug and strawberry mug. Etsy then approached Milne for their “Keep Commerce Human” campaign, which was narrowed down to just four sellers out of the thousands who sell on Etsy in the U.S.

Filmed in Mexico City, the commercial showcases Milne working on a piece of pottery, highlighting the start and finish of the product. The campaign aims to emphasize the importance of handmade, artisanal products in a world increasingly dominated by mass production and automation.

The commercial draws upon the personal touch and dedication that small business owners like Milne bring to their crafts, and will be running for the entirety of the Olympics, as well as on channels and streaming platforms including ESPN, Hulu, Roku, and Amazon.

“[The commercial] has already been immensely helpful,” Milne reflects. “My sales have been kind of off the charts since it aired, specifically with the vase that is being showcased in it – I've gotten a lot of attention since then with regards to my pottery.”

As the Olympics officially kicked off over the weekend, those who tune in will see Milne on televisions across the world – her talent and passion for her business apparent – and whose beginnings are tightly linked with her roots on Nantucket.