This year has been difficult for many and here at 23ABC as a part of our Rebound series, we're highlighting businesses who are still making it work despite the challenges of the pandemic. One Bakersfield art studio is not only overcoming hardship but continues to motivate the community to learn and create.
The studio was created by two best friends just a few years ago as a way to teach people a new skill, help them gain confidence in their art, and simply be creative. And while this pandemic has been hard it hasn’t stopped this business from teaching others.
Jocelyn Dimayathurley and Amanda Schaffer started The Studio back in 2018 after both were sharing office space to work on their own separate clothing businesses. After a few months of working in the same space, the two decided to start offering sewing classes as a way to teach the Bakersfield community some new skills.
“When you get your creative juices flowing so many other things in your life can go great,” said Amanda.
“And then it turns out we started this great business, became business partners, and we were kind of business partners before we became best friends,” added Jocelyn.
But soon after the studio took off, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“The pandemic definitely halted all the work that we had been doing, especially at the beginning,” said Jocelyn.
For Jocelyn and Amanda, they had to completely halt their in-person lessons and classes but the two best friends didn’t give up on their business.
“We offered virtual classes so we did virtual summer camps, we were teaching virtual private lessons,” explained Jocelyn.
And according to Jocelyn, the pandemic actually brought about some positive and innovative changes to their business.
“Something that is cool about all of the changes that we made in the pandemic is now we get to implement a lot of those things moving forward. So we aren’t going to stop the take-home kits, we still can offer virtual lessons and that means we aren’t just serving the Bakersfield area, we have students in LA, Sacramento, Oakland.”
And while this past year has been difficult The Studio encourages artists to keep creating and stay positive.
Says Jocelyn:‘ "Sewing and being creative and having ideas that you get to turn into something in real life brings you joy, and I think that during the pandemic we could use all of the happiness that we can get.”
The Studio's physical location is downtown at 2005 Eye St. If you would like to sign up for a class or private lesson at the studio, you can visit their website.
