2025 Wrap up - The Highs, Lows and the rather middling middle!

Grab a cuppa, because it’s time for the annual Dixie Dot reality check.

Now that the Christmas madness has settled and the glitter has finally been swept up (mostly!), I’ve been taking a moment to sit down and look back at 2025.

As always I believe in being transparent with you all—you aren’t just customers, you’re our community—so I’m not going to sugarcoat it.

To be totally honest? 2025 was just… "ok."

It has been an incredibly trying and tiring year for small businesses, and we certainly felt it. Especially me as the business owner carrying the weight and worry on my shoulders. Between the increases in literally every single bill, stock prices climbing, supplier issues (don’t get me started!), and the additional National Insurance payments, the pressure has been relentless.

And, just to add a cherry on top of the stress cake, we were hit with an eye-watering VAT bill because we had to pay two years' worth in one go. Let’s just say we were badly let down (Cheers, crappy accountant! I hope you step on an upturned plug with bare feet!) and recovering from that has been no small feat.

But… it hasn’t been all doom and gloom.

Actually, there have been some massive wins that have kept us smiling through the stress.

While the bills have been high, the studio vibes have been even higher. We have seen a huge hike in new customers walking through our doors this year. It has been amazing to see so many fresh faces discovering the joy of pottery, painting and crafting.

In particular, we’ve loved welcoming a whole new demographic of uni students and people in their early 20s. It’s breathed even more life into the studio!

Our Thursday evening sessions are now pretty much full every single week, in fact they are proving so popular I'm looking at opening another night in the evening too!

Pizza, Pottery & Local Love

One of the biggest highlights of the year has been teaming up with other fantastic local businesses. We believe in supporting our neighbours, and it turns out, you guys do too!

The Pizza & Pottery night with Topolys was an absolute standout success. It was loud, delicious, and creative—exactly how we like it. If you missed out, don't worry; because it went so well, we have plenty more collaborations and events planned for 2026. Watch this space!

The Team: Babies, Promotions, and New Faces

It wouldn't be a Dixie Dot update without filling you in on our studio family. We’ve had quite the shuffle, and I am so proud of how hard this team has worked.

Rebekah & Charlotte: The Handover First off, the big news: Rebekah is pregnant! She will be with us for a few more weeks before heading off on maternity leave at the end of January 2026. I have to say, Rebekah has done a brilliant job since taking on the role of Studio Manager back in April. The studio is organised, the staff are organised, and her admin is thorough—we are reeeeeally going to miss her efficiency while she’s away, but look forward to being able to create eleventy billion baby prints for her when little one is here!

However, we are in safe hands. Charlotte, who joined us in September as a "Studio Super Star," has done absolutely brilliantly. She has been promoted to Studio Manager to cover Rebekah’s leave. She’s already proved she’s up to the task, so please give her a high-five when you see her next. She's got some intensive training coming in January - but I'm sure she'll breeze it!

Sarah: Production Manager We have also promoted Sarah to the newly created role of Production Manager. Sarah now oversees the kiln schedules and the maintenance (which is no mean feat—we are thinking of buying her her own pink tool box!). It’s always been important to us that you get a quality product at the end of your experience, and putting Sarah in charge of quality control is really helping. She’s working hard to ensure deadlines are met and that all your painted pottery is processed efficiently without sacrificing quality.

The Students & New Recruits

• Carly has been a true superstar this year. She started with us for work experience a few years ago and just never left (lucky us!). This year she has really perfected her personalisation skills, handling much of the design work that comes through the studio—especially the baby prints. We are currently choosing to ignore the prospect that she might be leaving us next September when her college course ends. We’re in denial!

• Niamh: She has increased her hours recently to boost her university fund. She’s working hard to save up before she heads off next September to study something very "sciencey." Her Dad is not so secretly hoping she'll go to Glasgow Uni so he can see her more often.. I am not sure how Niamh feels about that!

• Poppy: Poppy left us in September to head to university, but once a Dixie Dotter, always a Dixie Dotter—she’s actually working in her local pottery painting studio in her uni town! It fills my little heart to know she's still up to her knees in washing up paint palettes!

• We were also joined by Erin and Isla towards the end of the year as support staff in the lead up to Christmas - thanks for all your hard work, both!

And as for me - well I am here in Scotland, still managing Dixie Dot from afar, crying about accountants and getting stuck in with everything running a business from 7 hours away takes. I am not so hands on any more, I've been able to pick and choose which bits of the business I keep, whilst relying on my amazing team to control the rest.

It does mean I can spend my days differently. I've opened a business which specialises in just pottery prints for babies and pets and between that and Dixie Dot, it leaves me just enough time for all our house renovations and walks in the country to chat to the local Highland Cows. Life is good! I'm yet to start dressing in tartan or learn the bagpipes, but it's early days eh?

Roll on 2026

Despite the headaches (did I mention the accountant?) we are still here, we are still painting, and we are still loving every creative moment with you.

Thank you for sticking with us through an "ok" year - and helping make the tough days worth it.

Your support literally keeps the lights on and the kiln firing, and for that we really do believe that YOU ARE THE BEST!

Here’s to a creative, colourful, and hopefully slightly less expensive 2026!

Love, Trace & The Dixie Dot Team x