Mondays suck. Especially if you hate your job. But the day doesn’t have to be a total waste. You can now look forward to reading about ReadyMakers who have worked their way into f*&%ing awesome jobs—and maybe find a little inspiration to jumpstart your own career in the process—right here, every Monday.

How is Adam Silverman, one-time architect, founder (with Eli Bonerz and the Beastie Boys' Mike D) of the clothing line X-Large, and presently a full-time potter and studio director at Heath Ceramics' Los Angeles studio, store and gallery space so productive? Read on, paying particular attention to his answer to question #8.

VITAL STATS

Occupation: Potter, partner and LA studio director at Heath Ceramics
Location: Los Angeles
Age: 46
First Job: I started working very young, doing anything I could: cutting lawns, shoveling snow, caddying at the local golf course, paper routes. Once I was 16, I worked at a gas station, was a garbage man, and painted houses.
Best Job: The one I have now.
Greatest Professional Challenge: Figuring out how to have the life that I want as a potter and make enough money to live in Los Angeles, with a big family to support.
Salary During 20s: From $13 per hour right out of college, to $11 hour after that; I took a pay cut to go work at an architecture office that was doing much better work.

Hi, Adam Silverman. How did you get that f*&%ing awesome job? 
I basically invented the job, together with Cathy and Robin, the owners of Heath. We met shortly after they bought Heath from Edith Heath, and hit it off. We began a long professional and personal flirtation. They would visit my studio when they came to LA, and I would visit Heath when I was up there. We started discussing doing something together. Over time it ranged from a small collaboration, like me designing a line of vases for Heath, to very large projects like building a second factory in LA and furthering the Heath mission of being a design-driven, small scale, family owned, American manufacturing company. We all wanted to prove that it is still possible to design and manufacture things in the US in a way that is not harmful to the environment, the employees, the neighbors, etc.---and still make money.

In the end we decided to go for it and build a second Heath store and studio in LA. The final project (and my job) is the result of a few different ideas. First, we were all interested in the idea of replicating the mid-twentieth-century Scandinavian ceramic factory model where there were artists' studios in the factories. The artists would make their own work, which would wind up in the factory store as one-offs, or they would have shows of their work in the factory gallery, or the factory design director would select pieces from the studios to put into production in the factory. Second, we all recognized the importance of growing Heath through its own retail environment. The factory store in Sausalito sells way more than any of the wholesale accounts that Heath sells to, so Cathy and Robin were interested in thinking about more retail. Third, we were all interested in realizing Heath as a California company, so if it was to grow through retail, the place that made the most sense to open another store was LA.

So the idea of opening a space in LA, with retail in front, a gallery space, and studio in back sort of came together when we combined all of the pieces that interested us. My responsibility is to make sure the whole LA facility is a success, but we have a great store manager and staff, so I can focus on making work in the studio and on organizing the shows in the gallery space. 

You've worn a lot of hats as an architect and then founder of the clothing company X-Large. How did you get from there to pottery?
I started making pots in high school and my first year of college, and I was as a pottery major before switching to architecture. I continued taking pottery courses as electives throughout college. Nothing too rigorous like glaze calculations, just wheel throwing classes because I really enjoyed throwing. I moved to LA as an architect and practiced here for a few years. Having gone to a good art school, with a strong fashion department, we were able to learn how to make clothes from our school friends when we decided to start the clothing company. It was a very similar process to building a building, although cheaper and quicker, which was very satisfying.

After a couple of years in the clothing business I missed throwing pots, so set up a small studio in my garage and got back to work. After a while I had a nagging voice in my head telling me to become a full-time potter. Eventually I decided to give it a one-year trial. That was in 2002, so I set up a real studio and went to work full-time as a potter. That was seven years ago, and I think this is it for the rest of my life. The thing that ties architecture, clothing and pottery together is the human body. They are all made for and used by people and specifically their bodies.

How would you describe your design aesthetic? Is there Something that links all your creative pursuits?
I was trained in a pretty traditionally modernist way, and my design aesthetic is based on that. Things like form, proportion, scale, materials, texture are what I think about, whether they are being applied to a pot, a pair of pants or a building.

Do you remember when in your life you first started to notice design?
College.

What is your typical day like?
I wake at 6:00, catch up on late-night emails, and make the kids lunches for school. Then I wake the kids, breakfast with them, and drop them off at school. I get to work by 9:00. Typically I throw pots on Monday and Tuesdays, maybe Wednesday mornings too if I am under pressure to finish something. The second half of the week is for trimming, glazing, firing, and grinding pots. Throughout the day I deal with the business side of my job. Meeting with people, phone stuff, and connecting with the Heath Motherhsip in Sausalito.

What do you think your next challenge will be?
To grow old with some grace.

The last question is usually 'what advice would give to someone who wants to do what you've done.' But you've done so many different things. So maybe...what advice would you give someone who wants to morph their present career into something new?
If you are young my advice is always to get as much education as you can, travel as much as you can, see the world,  and to keep your overhead as low as you can. Those things together will give you a lot of ideas, and the freedom to do many different things in your life.  If you are older, my advice is to not invest in the stock market, or anyone else's projects, ideas or schemes,  but to take whatever money you might have and invest in yourself. Allow yourself to have the "why not me?" revelation.

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