Great Tips on Working as a Couple | Kimmy Rohrs & Aaron McSorley | Episode 598

 

 

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You guys work really well together. How do you separate home from work? Or do you?

Aaron: It is something we are constantly trying to figure out ourselves. It really is an interesting challenge in that we do work really well and complement each other and we have a great intimate and business relationship but obviously that results in us spending too much time together and we are constantly trying to figure that out. And constantly kind of redefining out relationship model. I don’t think we have a short answer to that. I don’t know if we will ever figure out a perfect way of having a business and an intimate relationship. It is certainly one of our largest challenges.

Kimmy: I agree with Aaron. I guess I would say it is a challenge but even more rewarding. Aaron and I benefit from enjoying  a lot of time together. We personally don’t really need that much time apart so whether it is weekend or weekday or workday or not workday I am excited to get up and just start the day with him everyday. Doing…going for a hike or going for a run or getting right into unloading the kiln, which we will be doing tomorrow, but for right now our studio is in town and it’s pretty small so I spend most of my day in the studio while he’s at home either running the kiln or working on cars. So we spend a couple of hours a day at least apart. Which is probably healthy.

Do you find it a challenge that because you are with each other, there is so much, even with the break in the middle, do you find that there is a higher importance of being respectful of one another?

Kimmy: That’s a good question. I would say so, ya, for me.

Aaron: Ya, I think that’s true. I think I would not recommend for most couples to start a business together. (laughter)

Kimmy: That is not saying something about our relationship but it definitely makes things a challenge. And you know, I will say as far as the respect goes, maybe there is this subconscious thing that is going on in my head that there is a lot at stake that this is our bread and butter and it’s on our relationship. So I put even more effort into love and respect because I want this to work out so badly. And it honestly is.

Aaron: And from a financial standpoint it makes a lot of sense. Because in an intimate relationship you are sharing resources and all of these so these are cheaper that way. But when you combine that with a business relationship we are both working for each other for free and so in that way it does make a lot of sense. It makes sense financially to have a small business where you can do that. If one or the other of us didn’t have those free resources we would be having to hire somebody to do that and that would be coming out of the bottom line of our business. So being able to share those resources is definitely a financial benefit.

Is it important to maintain separate work spaces?

Kimmy: We are not sure yet. As far as working together I don’t actually know yet. We haven’t worked in the same space in a while because I have always been in the studio and he’s been at the kiln or something. I don’t know what do you think?

Aaron: I think it depends on how big the space is. But that applies to any group of people working together.

Kimmy: Totally.

Aaron: I think it just depends on how big the space is. We don’t have any issue working together in a space. It just sort of for us, just kind of happens to be that way in that we like to have the kiln at home so that we can run it overnight and go to sleep and check on it, So it just kind of so happens that a lot of the work load that I am doing is at home and a lot of the work Kimmy is doing is at the studio.

Is it especially more important to be nice to your co-worker?

Kimmy: When they are your partner?

When they are your partner. 

Aaron: I was just thinking about this actually that some of the things that we will say to each other, you would never say that to a co-worker that is not your partner. You would never be that brutally honest to a normal co-worker.

Kimmy: We kind of have an open line of honest communication with each other.

How important then is it to have an open ear to each other’s criticism?

Kimmy: So important. I think we have both become very good at accepting criticism and not letting it get to our five year old temper tantrum self. Although it does happen sometimes. But both of us have pretty thick skin. I grew up with a pretty mean brother, he grew up with 2 other brothers, so I think that neither of us are particularly sensitive.

Do you also need to have a pretty good understanding of each other’s business style?

Kimmy: Yes. Yes, we do. And I think and that is something that we are both still  learning about each other. I mentioned Aaron, in a very good way, is extremely perfectionist and I am a little more cavalier  and so we butt heads a little bit. For instance, sometimes my handles aren’t as smooth as Aaron would like and he’ll reject that as a piece that I was going to send to someone. And I will get upset because I need the order to go out the door and he’ll get upset that I don’t see that the handle is going to cut their finger.

Yes. That is always important that the handle doesn’t cut someone’s finger. 

Kimmy: Yes.

How about free time. Do you guys make it a priority to set aside time away from business, away from work?

Kimmy: Yes.

Aaron: I don’t know if we need to make a priority of it. I mean, I think we do it naturally.

Kimmy: Ya, we do. We do it pretty organically. Like for instance yesterday,  Saturday we were up pretty late running the kiln and yesterday was Sunday so middle of the day yesterday about 4pm and I was just so out of it and tired and I called Aaron and said, Do you want to just go see a movie tonight? So that for instance is just organic. Let’s just take some space from being potters for a minute. We are both are pretty social and have a pretty good network of friends here in Santa Fe and do a lot of things with our friends. So the separation is fairly natural in that way.

What movie did you go see?

I highly recommend it! It is called Fantastic Fungi. It is about fungus and it has people like Michael Pollan in it. It  is a documentary about mushrooms and their impact on the world. It is so fascinating. There are three times as many types of fungi than plants!

Aaron, I heard you refer to the business as your “company”. Do you see this as a powerful endeavor that you two are doing?

Aaron: Yes, I mean, I am constantly trying to figure out how to make what we are doing a life affair. And so in my mind we are doing great with Whiskey and Clay right now. People love it and we cannot keep up with the orders but I think it would be naive to think that that would be a life long solution to being able to live off of our own creativity. So I definitely try to look at it as a more sort of future proof company. Obviously we don’t know exactly where that lands us in ten-fifteen years but I think we are looking at definitely branching out and doing a variety of things or bigger things or even making things like kiln controllers and tools or things like that for other artists and ceramicists. So when I say company it definitely does mean something greater than just the Whiskey and Clay product line.

Book

Walk Through Walls by Marina Abramovic

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