Tessera Studio Melbourne

Key results

• 99.9% Uptime record
• 0 Security incidents
• 24/7 Site monitoring
• 100% Pages loading clean

The Challenge

Tessera makes small glass objects for the home in a garden studio in Thornbury, in Melbourne's north. Each coaster is a hand-set grid of thirty-six bevelled glass tiles locked into bright white epoxy grout, and each colourway is named after a moment in art, design or memory, from Hockney to Candy Floss. The Tessera Studio WooCommerce store had to sell these objects without breaking the spell.

This is craft-object retail where the product is the story. Shoppers do not arrive looking for a blue coaster of a certain size. They arrive looking for something that feels right, so the shop needed a way to browse by feeling and to capture how the glass shifts from quiet and moody indoors to bright beside a window.

Every piece is made one at a time, so the commerce side had to stay light and calm, with no clunky widgets competing with the work.

The Solution

I built the store on WordPress and WooCommerce with a gallery-like shop experience. The homepage opens with a single statement about what Tessera makes, then invites visitors to Shop by feeling through four product categories: Cool, Warm, Bright and Deep. It is navigation that mirrors how people actually choose colour.

Favourites such as Swedish Christmas, Hockney, Confetti and Candy Floss are presented as named pieces with their own product stories. The store also includes a Make your own page where customers pick up to five glass colours, arrange all thirty-six tiles and order the exact coaster they designed, made to order in the studio. Gifts, Care, Shipping and returns, and FAQ pages answer practical questions without crowding the shop.

The maker's voice runs through the About page, and a live Instagram feed shows pieces in real homes. I keep the store maintained and secure, handled with care, one tile at a time.

A handmade glass coaster brand from Thornbury

The Tessera Studio WooCommerce store keeps the brand's origin story front and centre rather than hiding it behind product grids. Tessera started with one coaster, made because the maker wanted one, and grew through a lot of trial and error with epoxy grout. That story is the brand.

The catalogue is small and personal. Every colourway has a name that hints at a memory, Lego, Palm Springs, Barbican or a summer ice cream, and the homepage copy answers the first practical question people ask: no, they are not dishwasher safe, but the epoxy grout is the same waterproof material used in showers and pools, so a scrub under the tap will not hurt it. Honest, warm copy like this builds trust for a handmade product that buyers cannot touch before ordering.

Shop by feeling: WooCommerce categories built around colour

Standard WooCommerce categories sort by product type. For Tessera, product type barely matters, since almost everything is a coaster. What matters is mood. I set up the shop around four feeling-based categories, Cool, Warm, Bright and Deep, and placed them right under the opening statement so they act as the main navigation into the range.

A short line explains why: inside and out of the sun the glass goes quiet and moody, then becomes a different piece near a window. The rest of the storefront stays deliberately minimal, with a simple header of Shop, Gifts, About and Contact, a slide-out cart, and generous space around the product photography so the glass does the selling.

Product storytelling and the made-to-order coaster builder

Each piece has its own product page with its story, so a buyer is choosing a named object rather than a SKU. The homepage features The favourites, and a Made by you section shows customer-designed colourways such as Harbour morning, Sunroom, Lorikeet and Dusk, inviting visitors to start their own.

The Make your own page turns that invitation into an order. Customers choose their colours, decide how the thirty-six tiles fall and order the exact design, which is then set by hand in the studio and shipped Australia-wide and worldwide. It converts browsers who love the idea but have not found their perfect colourway, without adding friction for those who have.

Gifts, care and shipping pages that answer buyers' questions

Handmade objects raise practical questions that mass-produced products do not. I gave those answers their own home rather than burying them in product descriptions. The footer's The useful bits area links to Care, Shipping and returns, and FAQ pages, and a Gifts page helps people buying for someone else.

The contact form includes subjects for exchanges and returns, shipping, reseller enquiries and anything else, so messages arrive already sorted for the studio. Customer accounts are available for repeat buyers, while checkout stays simple for first-time shoppers. Each of these details reduces hesitation for someone ordering a fragile glass object online.

Lightweight performance, privacy and ongoing care for the Tessera store

A gallery-style store lives or dies on image performance, so I kept the build lightweight and the product photography optimised, with a cached Instagram feed so the homepage stays quick. The cookie consent is written in the same plain, friendly voice as the shop, separating essential cart cookies from optional statistics so visitors can genuinely say no.

I continue to maintain the store, covering WordPress and WooCommerce updates, security, backups and 24/7 uptime monitoring, with a 99.9% uptime record and zero security incidents. If you are weighing up platforms for a small handmade brand, my comparison of Shopify vs WordPress and WooCommerce is a good place to start.

Selling something handmade and want a store that feels like your studio? Get in touch.

Tech stack

WordPress, WooCommerce, PHP, CSS

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