Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessie Lazar Potter And Founder Of Sullivan Public. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Jessie Lazar thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

My process developing a full time creative practice that was my full livelihood was a process. Like, a long process. I started out as a potter slowly and took classes and practiced every possible free moment for years. I ca to ceramics after college and was working making jewelry and waiting tables to cover rent. Slowly I began to teach small beginner classes at the Manhattan studio where I learned, and selling work at small fairs and pop up sales. The next steps were doing more established events like the Renegade Craft Fair. Slowly I began to wholesale my work and teach more classes and I found myself supported by ceramics sales! It’s been 10 years now, but the evolution to a proper brick and mortar retail site and big studio where I host my own workshops is sort of a dream! It took a lot of work and time, but it’s deeply gratifying that the process led me here.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I love pottery. I love the process and the weird tools, I love to teach and share my skills I love to sketch and play in clay. Every piece I make and sell is entirely make by my hands.
I’m a very exacting potter, I sit at my wheel with a rule and take notes. I love the intense physical craft that is pottery. It takes muscle and time and a lot of patience, all qualities that I think make my work unique and recognizable and deeply my own.
I have a great deal of creative freedom, selling my work in my own store. I make whatever I want. I learn from how customers interact with my pieces, what sells, what sits. People get to discuss what they want, what they feel their table and home needs and I get to learn and grow and customize my pieces based on this very intimate and content relationship. I love it.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There is something uniquely special about making functional work. Making humble object, intended for daily use, out of mud. Cheesy as it may sound, I find it a real honor to be the special cup someone sips from every morning. Maybe using a special object, made with respect for craft and real intention elevates mundane routine to a bit of ritual

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

A few years ago I had the privilege of selling work on a very prestigious boutique chain. They have shops everywhere- LA, NYC, and in between. It was so exciting! I was wholesaling in a few stores, but this felt huge. The orders were enormous and I was so determined that this would be a stepping stone for my business. And I tried. I made 373882636267272 of the same vase and tried so hard to make them identical. I churned through so much clay and was proud of the checks i earned. But you know, in the end, I was really not enjoying production. For the first time since touching clay I was NOT enjoying making pottery and my wrist got painful and I flirted with carpal tunnel and I was really resenting the lack of creativity. While it was a hard re direction, I walked away from this account
Two of things I learned from that experience- one- if I want to work really hard and do something I do don’t love doing, I’ll make much more Joey at a normal job. That’s not why I hear. If I’m pursuing my passion, it needs to be a fulfilling and joyful practice and I owe it to myself to protect and honor this privilege.
Two- wholesale is really tricky and not for me. Because I have a retail brick and mortar I can make half as many things, for the same amount of money. All while enjoying every minute! And so retailing in other peoples spaces should be fun, collaborative, maintain creative freedom and be profitable. I don’t want to be a production elf again.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.jessielazar.com AND www.sullivanpublic.com
• Instagram: Jessielazar
• Facebook: Jessielazar

Image Credits

My 8 year old daughter Lula took this photo of me. I took all others