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Rich Brown | Episode 694
Rich Brown is the founder, owner, and creator of the Georgia based company, Pottery32. After attending his first pottery class at the age of 32 in Decatur, GA, Rich began an artistic journey to not only pursue an undeniable new found passion, but to also inspire those around him. With a spirited “it’s never too late” mantra and a true love of the art, Rich has made pottery a huge part of his life. Rich has a detailed focused tenacity that has him eager to continue to learn his craft and has given him the ability to share his appreciation for people through each piece he creates.
EPISODE 700 SMALL VICTORIES
Tell me about your small victories you learned from The Potters Cast. Tell us your name, Instagram Handle, and website. (I may steal a photo off one of your feeds for the show notes page)
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Do you see yourself as an entrepreneur?
Yeah, I’ve got to do it. Yeah. I have to. I’m in it now, I’ve jumped in. I’ve gotta go. And I’m learning day by day. I have to do more of this stuff though. That’s what I have to do. I know that’s my one downfall, talking into the camera, talking into the computer, I don’t like that. I love talking to people but text stuff….it’s hard.
That’s kind of crazy you say that because your online presence it’s not a small footprint.
Yeah, but I need to talk to people more. And I want to but it’s hard. I want to do that more.
Would you call yourself more of an introvert then?
Not at all.
What do you mean you need to talk to more people. What does that mean?
You know, stories and stuff like that. I’m not good talking into a phone. I want to talk to people face to face.
Oh, I get it.
Even this interview is uncomfortable because I am looking into a computer. There’s just something weird about that to me.
Do you think Zac would have reached out to you if he didn’t see the talent was already there.
I think he likes people like himself with drive, with passion and drive. He gravitates toward those who are passionate and hungry for what they are doing. And I am very hungry and I was hungry at that time for what I was doing. My whole existence is about clay. My entire existence. It’s kinda creepy. But I guess with all potters it might be like that. I mean, it’s every day. I pretty much exhausted Youtube and Instagram for anything kind of related to pottery. I try to hang out with the local sculptures and we have amazing sculptors in the area as well as potters. I am just trying to learn as much as I can, from whoever I can. And people in other areas as well. I have friends who are painters and I just try to use what they do to incorporate into my work.
What kind of businesses are coming to you and saying they need 50 pieces of tableware?
Well Paul, I talk to everybody, I mean, I don’t meet a stranger so it’s just talking to people. What do you do? I’m a potter. Oh! I could make this for you. Or somebody might say, Can you make this for me? So that’s what it’s about, just building relationships. You can’t know a stranger if you want to be out here. You have to get away from the studio to meet people. To show people what you are doing. To spread what you are doing. And that is the only way to make it.
I know some people who hate that idea and they ship their things to galleries or stores. They don’t push their work. They let someone else do al that pushing. So I am curious. What do you think of that?
I mean, that’s a lane and people are very successful doing that. That’s just not my lane. And I didn’t enter the potter’s world the way some others have entered this world but getting a BFA or MFA. It was something where it was almost self taught. So the way I entered pottery just might be different. I guess I am looking at it from a different approach. It’s more about people than the pottery but my pottery is a conduit.
Was there ever an issue of having to swallow pride of having to take the help of someone else?
Oh no, never. Not in this situation. Not at all. It was just like, Hey Rich, I see what you want to do. I see that you are passionate. There were other artists as well. I wasn’t the only artist. Covid just really shut down a lot of that stuff. But it was, I see where you are going and I see big things in you. And I am hungry. I plan on doing what Zac did for me to other people. That’s how far I plan on taking my business because life is just about giving back.
What did that do to your confidence when he approached you?
I don’t know, because when he approached me I was ready for it. So I can’t say that it boosted my confidence because, Paul, my confidence is through the roof. In terms of , I am just somebody who believes in myself. No one has to believe in me, I believe in myself. And I believe I am going to take my business to a next level and I plan on taking a whole bunch of people with me.
How did this accelerate your dreams?
It accelerated it because I didn’t have to teach. You know, as a teacher I was teaching, I was coaching. So with teaching I would get to work before 8 o’clock and with coaching I would get home sometimes at 8 o’clock. I would hang out with the family and then I would go in the basement and do pottery. And just he opportunity I had, I didn’t have to do that. My entire day could be devoted just to pottery. My pottery skills have increased so much in the past three years. Like just how fast I can make something. You see all that work that I am doing, I am just cranking it out. I can make maybe 25 mugs an hour. So I can get in and make fifty and then do what I have to do and then I can come back and do another fifty. As a teacher you just don’t have that kind of time.
Why is it important to you that you support the next person?
Because that’s what we are here for. You know, we are not here to make money. We are just here to help others. To me if you are not helping then what is your purpose? And that’s my purpose in life. Just people. I am a sociology and educating major so I am always thinking about he person next to me and how to give back. I think that is the biggest gift you can do is giving back.
How does that look to you, to give to the next?
I want to be the Wayfair of handmade goods. I am around a lot of artisans now and what I would like to eventually do online, where I am selling crafts online that are made by people that I know to a larger audience. Which is the world. And hopefully one day I can have a community of those artists living in the same community and just sharing and feeding off of each other.
What has been your favorite thing about being a full-time artist?
I think the best thing is the unknown, Paul. To me the unknown is the best thing because the sky’s the limit. And I believe that what you put into it is what you are going to get. I am a dreamer too so to me I believe sky is the limit. There’s going to be no stopping it, you can just keep going. I have no ceiling. As an educator I had a ceiling in terms of salary and you are just going to be stuck at a certain point. But with this I could open a school one day. There is no ceiling to what I am doing.
Book
Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers
Instagram: @pottery32