Privacy Policy

1. Scope of This Policy

This policy applies to the website published at firedsunflowerpottery.hair and to every interaction you have with Fired Sunflower Pottery LLC through that website, by email, by telephone or through a studio engagement. It covers the personal information we handle as a business, including information about prospective clients, current clients, website visitors and the people who work for the studios we serve.

This policy does not apply to information that our clients store inside the systems we build for them. When Fired Sunflower Pottery LLC configures an inventory platform, an order tracking tool or a studio network, the client remains the owner of that client data and decides how it is used. We act as a service provider for that data and handle it only on the instructions of the client. If you are a customer of one of our client studios and you have a question about your order, please contact that studio first, because only the studio can change or delete the records it owns.

This policy also does not cover information that is publicly available, information that has been fully anonymised so that it can no longer be linked to a person, or information that we are required to handle under a specific legal obligation that overrides the practices described here. Where a written agreement between Fired Sunflower Pottery LLC and a client contains stronger privacy commitments, that agreement controls for the work covered by it.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the information we need to answer questions, provide services and run a responsible business. The categories below describe what we handle in the ordinary course of work.

Information you give us directly

• Identity and contact details such as your name, business name, email address, telephone number and postal address.
• The content of messages you send through our contact form, by email, by telephone or during a studio visit.
• Details about your studio, such as the number of kilns, the tools you use, the software you already run and the outcomes you are seeking.
• Billing and payment details needed to invoice for services, including a billing address and the records of payments received.
• Any files, photographs or documents you choose to share so that we can plan or support your systems.

Information collected automatically

• Technical data such as the internet protocol address of your device, the browser type, the operating system and the approximate region from which you connect.
• Usage data such as the pages you view, the links you select, the time you spend on a page and the site you visited before reaching ours.
• Device data such as the screen size and the language settings that help us display a page correctly.

Information created during an engagement

• Project notes, meeting summaries, configuration records and support history connected to the work we perform for you.
• Records of approvals, sign offs and the credentials issued to the people who are authorised to use the systems we build.
• Correspondence related to support requests, changes and the resolution of issues.

We do not ask for sensitive categories of information such as health data, government identification numbers or precise financial account details, and we ask that you do not send such information through our website forms. If a project genuinely requires a sensitive record, we will arrange a protected method of transfer before any such record is shared.

3. How We Obtain Information

Most of the information we hold comes straight from you. You provide it when you complete our contact form, send an email, telephone the studio, request a proposal or enter into a service agreement. You also provide it, indirectly, when a device you use loads our website and shares basic technical data with our hosting environment.

We obtain a smaller amount of information from third parties. A payment processor may confirm that an invoice has been settled. A scheduling tool may tell us that a meeting has been booked. A referral partner may introduce a studio that would like to work with us. Where we receive information from a third party, we use it only for the purpose it was provided and only in a manner consistent with this policy.

In a few cases we create information ourselves. Project notes, configuration logs and support histories are produced as we do the work. These records help us serve you consistently, so that a technical detail discovered in the first month of an engagement is still available in the twelfth month.

4. Why We Use Information

We use personal information for clear and limited purposes. Each purpose below is tied to a real activity that supports our studio practice.

• To answer your questions and to prepare proposals, plans and estimates.
• To plan, build, test and support the systems we provide to your studio.
• To communicate about projects, scheduling, approvals, changes and support requests.
• To issue invoices, record payments and keep accurate financial records.
• To improve our website, our services and the clarity of the information we publish.
• To protect our studio, our clients and our systems against fraud, misuse and security threats.
• To comply with tax, accounting, record keeping and other legal obligations that apply to a United States company.
• To establish, exercise or defend legal claims where that becomes necessary.

We do not use personal information for automated decision making that produces legal or similarly significant effects, and we do not build profiles of individuals for the purpose of predicting behaviour across unrelated websites.

5. Legal Grounds for Processing

Where the law requires a legal ground for processing, we rely on one or more of the following. First, we process information to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering a contract, such as preparing a proposal. Second, we process information on the basis of our legitimate interests in running a studio, supporting our clients and protecting our systems, provided those interests are not outweighed by your rights. Third, we process information to comply with legal obligations, including tax and accounting rules. Fourth, we process information on the basis of your consent where consent is the appropriate ground, such as when you ask to receive occasional studio notes.

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time by writing to studio@firedsunflowerpottery.hair. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that already took place, and it does not affect processing that rests on another legal ground. Where we rely on legitimate interests, you may ask us for a description of the interests we have balanced and the safeguards we apply.

6. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our website uses a small number of cookies and similar storage technologies. A cookie is a tiny text file that a site places on your device so that the site can remember something between page loads. We use essential cookies to keep the site working correctly, such as remembering a navigation state so that a menu does not reset unexpectedly. We use preference cookies to remember choices that make the site easier to use. We may use measurement cookies to understand which pages are read most often.

You are in control of cookies. Most browsers allow you to view the cookies stored on your device, to delete individual cookies and to block cookies from some or all sites. If you block essential cookies, parts of the website may not work as intended. If you block measurement cookies, the site will still work and you will simply not be counted in our summaries.

We do not use cookies to sell advertising, and we do not permit third parties to place advertising cookies through our website. If that practice ever changes, we will update this policy and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent before any such cookie is set.

7. Analytics and Measurement

We measure how our website is used so that we can make it clearer and faster. The information we review is mostly aggregate: how many visitors arrive, which pages they open, how long they stay and which links they follow. Aggregate information does not identify you personally, and we use it to decide which content deserves more care and which pages can be simplified or removed.

Where we use a third party measurement tool, we configure it to limit the collection of personal data. We avoid tools that build long term advertising profiles, and we do not sell measurement data to anyone. If you prefer not to be measured, you may use a browser setting or an extension that blocks analytics scripts, and our website will continue to function normally.

We may also look at server logs that record basic technical details about requests to our site. These logs help us detect abuse, diagnose errors and keep the site available. Log data is retained for a limited period and then deleted or reduced to aggregate form.

8. How We Share Information

We do not sell personal information, and we do not rent it. We share information only in the limited situations described below, and only to the extent needed for a clear purpose.

• With service providers who help us operate, such as hosting, email, scheduling and payment processors, under contracts that limit their use of the information.
• With professional advisers such as an accountant or a lawyer when their advice is required and confidentiality applies.
• With authorities when the law requires disclosure, when a lawful request is made, or when disclosure is necessary to protect rights, safety or property.
• With a buyer or successor in the unlikely event that our business is sold, merged or reorganised, in which case information may transfer as part of the business assets and this policy will continue to apply until it is replaced.
• With your direction or consent, when you ask us to involve another party in a project.

When we share information with a service provider, we require that provider to protect it, to use it only for the agreed purpose and to notify us of any incident that affects it. We do not authorise any provider to use our client information for its own marketing.

9. Service Providers and Processors

Like most small businesses, we rely on a handful of carefully chosen providers. These may include a website host, an email provider, a scheduling service, an accounting service and a payment processor. Each provider receives only the information needed to perform its function. A payment processor, for example, receives the details required to charge a card and returns only a confirmation and a transaction reference to us.

We review our providers periodically. When we select a new provider, we consider the sensitivity of the information involved, the security practices of the provider and the legal protections available in the country where the provider operates. When we end a relationship with a provider, we ask for confirmation that our information has been returned or securely destroyed, subject to any legal retention requirement that applies to the provider.

If you would like to know the categories of providers we currently use for a particular activity, write to studio@firedsunflowerpottery.hair and we will explain them. We will not disclose details that would weaken the security of our systems or of our clients.

10. How Long We Keep Information

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected and for any period required by law. Retention periods differ by category of information and by the role you have with our studio.

• Contact enquiries that do not lead to an engagement are kept for a reasonable period so that we can follow up, and are then removed.
• Client project records are kept for the length of the engagement and for a follow up support window afterwards.
• Financial and tax records are kept for the period required by United States accounting and tax rules.
• Website server logs are kept for a short period and then deleted or reduced to aggregate form.
• Records needed to establish, exercise or defend legal claims are kept until the claim is resolved or the relevant limitation period expires.

When a retention period ends, we delete the information or reduce it to a form that no longer identifies a person. If information cannot be deleted immediately because it sits in a backup, we isolate it and let the backup cycle expire according to our retention schedule, and we do not use it for any other purpose in the meantime.

11. How We Protect Information

We take the protection of information seriously, and we treat our own studio systems the way we treat the systems we build for clients. We use technical and organisational measures that are appropriate to the risk, and we review those measures as our studio grows.

• Access to client information is limited to the people who need it to do their work.
• Accounts are protected with strong unique credentials and, where available, a second factor of authentication.
• Data is encrypted in transit, and sensitive records are encrypted at rest.
• Software is kept current, and we remove tools and accounts that are no longer needed.
• Backups are taken regularly and a restore is tested so that we know the backup is real.
• Staff and contractors receive privacy and security guidance appropriate to their role.

No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, and we cannot promise absolute security. If we become aware of a breach that affects personal information, we will investigate promptly, take steps to contain it, and notify affected people and any required authority in line with applicable law. If you believe you have found a weakness in our systems, please tell us at studio@firedsunflowerpottery.hair so that we can act quickly.

12. International Data Transfers

Fired Sunflower Pottery LLC is based in the United States, and the information we handle is generally stored in the United States. Some service providers may process information in other countries. When information moves across a border, we take steps to ensure it remains protected, which may include using providers that offer standard contractual protections, limiting the categories of information that may be transferred, and choosing providers with a strong security record.

If you are located outside the United States and you contact us, your information will be handled in the United States. By using our website or engaging our services, you understand that your information may be processed in a country whose privacy rules differ from those in your own. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the protections described in this policy travel with your information wherever it is handled.

13. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have a set of rights over the personal information we hold about you. We honour these rights for everyone who contacts us, whether or not a particular law compels it. The rights below describe what you may request.

• The right to know whether we hold personal information about you and to receive a copy of it.
• The right to ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• The right to ask us to delete information that we no longer need and that we are not required to keep.
• The right to ask us to restrict or object to certain processing, including direct marketing.
• The right to receive information you provided to us in a portable format where that is technically feasible.
• The right to withdraw consent where processing rests on consent.
• The right to complain to a privacy authority in your region.

To exercise a right, write to studio@firedsunflowerpottery.hair and describe your request clearly. We may ask for information to confirm your identity so that we do not disclose data to the wrong person. We will respond within the time required by applicable law, and we will explain our decision if we are unable to fulfil a request in full. You will not be treated differently for exercising a privacy right.

14. Your Choices and Controls

You have practical control over much of the information you share with us. You decide what to include in a message, whether to attach a photograph, whether to provide a telephone number and whether to subscribe to studio notes. You may ask us at any time to stop sending non essential messages, and we will act on that request promptly.

You also control the technical side of the relationship. Your browser settings decide how cookies are handled. Your email provider decides how a message is filtered. Your telephone settings decide which calls reach you. If a communication from us is not welcome, tell us and we will change how we contact you. If you believe we hold information about you that we should not, tell us and we will review it honestly.

15. Privacy for Children

Our website and services are intended for businesses and adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe that a child has provided personal information to us, please write to studio@firedsunflowerpottery.hair and we will investigate the matter and delete the information if it was provided in error.

Where a studio we serve works with young makers, that studio is responsible for obtaining any consent required for the young maker to participate, and for the information that studio stores inside the systems we build. We support our client studios with secure configuration, and we never seek to gather information from young people directly through our own website.

If you are a parent or guardian and you have a concern about information that may have reached us through a studio we serve, contact that studio first, since the studio owns its records. You are also welcome to contact us at the address in this policy and we will point you to the right place.

16. Marketing and Communications

We send occasional studio notes to people who ask to receive them. These notes describe our services, share what we have learned about studio systems and announce the opening of onboarding slots. We do not buy email lists, and we do not add people to a mailing list without their agreement.

Every studio note includes a simple way to stop receiving future messages. You can also write to studio@firedsunflowerpottery.hair at any time and ask to be removed. We will keep a small record of your request so that we do not contact you again by mistake, and we will retain that record only for the purpose of honouring your choice.

We may contact existing clients about matters connected to a current project, such as a scheduled handover or a support window. These service messages are part of the engagement and are separate from optional studio notes. We keep both kinds of communication clear so that you always know why you are hearing from us.

17. Third Party Websites

Our website may link to websites run by other organisations, such as a map service, a payment provider or a professional association. We do not control those websites, and we are not responsible for their content or their privacy practices. When you follow a link away from our site, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of the site you reach.

A link from our website does not mean that we endorse every practice of the site we link to. We provide links because they are useful to the people who read our pages. If you find a link on our site that leads to a page you believe is unsafe or misleading, please tell us so that we can review it and remove it if necessary.

18. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, in the services we offer or in the law. When we make an update, we will revise the effective date at the top of this page. If a change is significant, we will describe it clearly and, where the law requires it, we will ask for your consent before the change takes effect.

We encourage you to review this page occasionally so that you always know how we handle information. Continuing to use our website or our services after an update means that you accept the revised policy. If you do not agree with a revised policy, you may contact us to discuss the matter or stop using our services.

Earlier versions of this policy are not kept on the website, but we can describe how the policy has changed if you ask us. We keep the history of significant changes so that we can answer questions accurately.

19. How to Contact Us

If you have a question about this policy, a request about your information or a concern about how we handle privacy, please contact our studio using the details below. A person reads every message, and we aim to reply within a few business days.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the privacy authority in your region. We will cooperate fully with any lawful inquiry and we will work in good faith to resolve a concern before it grows.