On a Saturday afternoon, though mostly empty, the little ceramic studio was enlightened with positive energy from the few customers in the store. A few graduate students all the way from Cal State Long Beach are painting some tea trays and cups, and a small family looks around to see what would be fun to paint. In the back there are ferns and monstera plants for sale, decorating the walls and corners, making it feel like you’re painting in a peaceful greenhouse. The car noises and rushing pedestrians of Commonwealth Avenue seem to dissolve in the zen-like atmosphere.

Open since August 2023, downtown Fullerton’s Kitsch Studios is a space where customers can be free to express their creativity with a variety of ceramics.
Lauren Tucker opened the studio so people in Fullerton could connect culturally someplace other than an expensive coffee shop or bar—a place to pass the time without having to buy pricey beverages.
“I catered this business more towards adults rather than children because there are places like Color Me Mine in other places that are catered toward children. But I wanted to have a fun way to get dorky, artsy and creative,” says Tucker. But the studio is for everyone. Kids can use the studio for a discounted fee. It’s also a food-friendly studio, so customers can bring food to eat while they paint in a nonjudgmental environment. For adults, wine is welcome if they drink responsibly.
The studio has already become popular for college students and not just to have fun. Two ceramic majors from Cal State Fullerton, Gary Tiamzon and Emma Smith, are currently teaching handle jar workshops to gain work experience.
Tiamzon met Tucker a month after the shop opened and started co-teaching with Smith in the summer of 2024. “It’s a great experience for my major,” says Tiamzon. “Someday, I think I would like to have a studio of my own.”
The word “kitsch” comes from a German art movement in the 1940s that spread through America and Asia. Tucker explains the idea behind the shop’s name, “With the theme of art that is so bad it’s good, just a playful way to get people to be okay with creating absolute garage, loving it, and loving it because of its individuality and quirkiness.”
When she lived in the Czech Republic in Germany; in her first five years in Europe, she gained small business experience by running a vintage clothing store and a bar.
After she opened Kitsch Studios, one of the first workshops she offered was on the art of kintsugi, the ancient Japanese art of putting the broken pieces of clay jars back together using types of gold mixtures. Part of Tucker’s heritage is Japanese, and she appreciated how kintsugi is an aesthetically pleasing way to give broken pottery new life.

Her most popular workshop is her “Paint-and-Sip” where customers can do some yoga with a crystal bowl bath led by Kayla Bennett, and then enjoy a catered brunch from Asa Osteria before they paint. Although her workshops can be pricey—at around $60-$80—tickets are sold out weeks before the scheduled session. Pieces can cost around $10-$85 regularly for walk-ins, and customers pay an added $11.11 studio fee to sit.
Today, Kitsch Studios is just the beginning. In the future, Tucker would like to open a second art studio in Fullerton to expand her business. For now, she plans to launch more workshops for people to creatively experiment with bonsai, jewelry making and resin—allowing people the space to creatively express their individuality through art.
Taken from the Winter 2024 print issue of Inside Fullerton. Read it here.