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Lisa Tantillo & Zack Callaghan | Episode 553
Calou Calay is the collaborative work of engaged couple Lisa Tantillo and Zack Callaghan. After 5 years on the art circuit they have developed a series of thrown and altered work inspired by a monster lore ranging from the of Boo Hag of the Carolinas to the Yokai Oni of Japan. The artists capture these creatures in clay as a means of exploring the human psyche and honoring the traditions of storytelling.
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About working together as a couple, how important is it to separate work from home?
Zach: Well, we definitely don’t want to bring actual clay to the house to avoid the dust. We actually have done that before when we are staining, but we don’t ever bring green ware to the house. It is hard to turn off that thought process. When we are driving home it’s like, Okay here’s a check list for tomorrow. And then you kind of get revved up again and you are thinking about, Oh, wait, I should have done that today. I need to do this tomorrow. We have grown to the point where it’s balanced. We can leave it at home or we can take it with us just to settle a few things and decide, Okay, let’s end the conversation there.
Lisa: You definitely feel it sometimes if it is late at night and either one of us brings up something about work. You can feel the wrongness of it. The work conversation is like this dragon that is butting into our space. You can feel it. So I do think it’s healthier but sometimes when we are under crunch and we are literally just working at the studio from 8 in the morning until twelve o’clock at night and then sleeping for a few hours and then coming back, you are kind of on a one track mind so it depends on our stress level too.
How about maintaining your individuality because you are both working on the same product line. How do you maintain your individuality?
Zach: Well, when we started we were in the same space and maintaining individuality then was difficult because it was just a matter of having personal space, but now we have, like Lisa has a room to work in and I have a room to work in and so we can put on what ever type of media we want to consume, whether it’s media, podcasts, or whatever type of thing that’s stimulating our brain juices and it doesn’t have to be what the other person wants. So having control over our own space has made it a lot easier and also we design whatever we want. I will come up with something and get really excited about it and I will see what Lisa thinks and she can do the same.
Lisa: And I think it is really important to keep exploring and kind of do our individual inspiration. You know, like follow your curiosity down its path and bring it back to discussion sessions. So I will still do that and I will fall down a google rabbit hole, like Japanese mythology, and then bring back all the sketches, These demons , we have to do these demons, or whatever, So I think that following that curiosity path always sketching on your own and bringing it back or always listening to inspiring podcasts and bringing that back. I think that helps us maintain individuality and I do think that is important because you can lose yourself.
How about when disagreements come up. Do you guys have a policy that it’s okay to disagree with each other?
Lisa: Oh yeah.
Zach: I mean, it’s okay.
Lisa: We work through it, man. If you don’t work through it , it’s like a festering wound and it’s just going to sit there and pop sometime.
Zach: Yeah, we can’t just let silence eat us. We have to discuss until the matter is thoroughly vanquished. I mean we can agree to disagree but that is after a point of long discussion and figuring out where each of our perspectives is coming from.
Lisa: In the beginning we would be setting up the tent and there were some times in public where we were setting up the tent and screaming at each other and fighting.
Zach: People would look at us like, wow.
Lisa: You know, it’s just part of the process because you have these two individual units and they have to turn into one unit. It doesn’t just come together there is a lot of figuring out how this piece with that piece and I want to do it this way, and you want to do it that way. So that has been many years of straight up fighting but as long as you are brave enough to tell the other person what is going on in your heart and move through it, it makes you very strong. I feel very confident now.
How important is humility in the relationship to be able to run a business together?
Zach: Oh man, I’ve had to learn that lesson many times. I have to beat myself with a humility stick because there are definitely times where I think I am so right and it can only be this way and then Lisa comes and does it a different way and I’m like, Well that works too. And I have to apologize for my actions and learn to not get upset when something is not exactly placed where I thought it would be placed.
Lisa: Yeah, learning to collaborate isn’t trying to reach some pinnacle of perfection where you guys agree on every single thing, I think a lot of it is learning to let things slide in a way and being really surprised at what comes out. It is normally beautiful, it is normally exciting and wonderful but it’s never perfect.
Have you had any comments from other couple friends that are envious that you two get to work together all the time?
Lisa: Generally everyone that interacts with us in our life says that. We get that a lot. It’s the dream. It’s awesome, it’s your best friend. I don’t know what happened but the karma worked out.
Do you have any thoughts on that Zach?
Zach: I was going to say, whenever people get jealous of that type of thing it is the grass is always greener type of mentality. It is a lot of work to be with the person you love twenty-four seven because you have to create that space to maintain your individuality, like we talked about earlier. We have external activities and things like that. We have to make that space happen so we don’t get sick of each other.
Book
The Complete Guide to Mid-Range Glazes by John Britt
The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons by Matthew Meyer
Contact
Instagram: @caloucalay