Our Staff

SALLY AND BOB

Pioneer potters in Park Slope! Recent graduates from Alfred University's Ceramic College find an abandoned store front which offered us the possibility of making and selling pots. Probably not the most practical "career choice", but from the very beginning, Park Slope has enthusiastically supported The Clay Pot. The business has gone in many different directions over the past 43 years, but who would have thought back when this photo was taken that we would be floating in cyberspace!

TARA

Q: Favorite vacation spot?

A: I spent a few weeks in Europe this summer and I have to say I fell in love all over again with Paris. I can't wait to go back.

Q: Favorite TV show at the moment?

A: Well, like everyone I'm pretty obsessed with Downton Abbey...All those costumes.

Q: Recommendations for a rainy day?

A: In this order, bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies, while they are cooking, have a glass of wine and play a game of Rummikub (Turkish tile game based on gin rummy) Who ever wins gets the first cookie and the loser has to clean up the kitchen.

Q: What are you going to add to your collection for the spring?

A: I got a little preview over the holidays of some new pieces that Carla Caruso has been working on. I am completely in love with a new style of hoops that she will be shipping this spring. They are simply the best hoops ever. I have been thinking about them everyday since I saw them.

Q: Best thing you've read recently?

A: This could be the answer to the guilty pleasures question as well... The Magician King. need I say more.

SHONEE

Q: How do you spend your weekends?

A: My weekends seem to be frantically split between the four parts of me who all need a piece of my time away from The Clay Pot. My chef side loves to get into the kitchen and get dirty. Eating, learning, teaching, and cooking for friends and family. My writer side likes to spend a couple of hours locked in my home office, toiling away at my dual burdens of an unfinished novel and an unfinished cookbook. The nerd in me loves to jump onto my Xbox 360 where I get to lead squadrons of elite troops, fight for my life against an ever increasing zombie horde, and invariably, when my willpower wanes, trade insults with verbally abusive 14 year olds over whos better at what, until my girlfriend unplugs me and the NYC native in me can't stay home, so I generally finish my nights out and about with my friends darkening the doorstep of our favorite SoHo lounge until the sun comes up.

Q: Read anything good lately?

A: I just finished Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem. Him being a Brooklyn native and myself newly transplanted Manhattanite, I wanted to see if he could write with the same flair and mastery about my borough as he did his own in Motherless Brooklyn and fortress of Solitude. I was so far from disappointed, that I was almost disappointed. If that makes any sense. I'm also giddily awaiting Anthony Bourdain's new book, Medium Raw.

Q: Have any guilty pleasures?

A: Aye, almost too many to list. My current vices are collecting vintage ties and pocket watches, wrapping any and everything I can in bacon, playing Words With Friends on my iPhone, (scrabble on steroids) collecting antique chandeliers, and slowly but surely distilling, and bottling my own bourbon. That last endeavor will probably be promptly shut down after my girlfriend reads this.

Q: If you could pick ten bands/musicians to be on the soundtrack of your life, who would you pick?

A: In no particular order: Johnny Cash, Bon Iver, Portishead, Ghostface, Explosions in The Sky, Elliot Smith, The Decemberists, Ratatat, Radiohead, Frank Sinatra

JENNIE

Q: Who are your favorite jewelry designers?

A: I’ve been enamored with Becky Kelso’s collection for years; I had a dogmatic aversion to yellow gold through my late teens and twenties, but her gorgeously lacy metalwork was integral to my ongoing conversion (although I guess you could say rose gold is my gateway drug). I also love Dream Mullick’s intricate designs; they remind me of mendhi tattoos. And in the “Ahhh, someday…” category: Van Craeynest has these lattice-filigree showpieces that are just magnificent—their craftsmanship is truly unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

Q: What's the most unusual metal or ring style you've seen?

A: A wedding ring is a personal symbol, and there was no better evidence of that than my friend who forged his own original band out of an actual railroad spike. Of course, a wedding ring should also be functional for a lifetime, and that one proved to be rather impractical for day-to-day wear, so he soon upgraded to an unconventional design in a more wearable metal. One of the most unique engagement rings I ever helped design at The Clay Pot was an amazing platinum antique style setting with a cushion-cut sapphire in a very rare shade of olive green, and triangular-shaped white sapphires on the sides. The effect was at once classically beautiful & totally distinctive, and my customers were thrilled with the results.

Q: What’s your favorite place to eat in the neighborhood?

A: In no particular order: La Villa (unpretentious Italian with huge portions); Bogota (yummy pan-Latin dishes and happy hour three nights a week!); Song (delish and ridiculously cheap Thai); The V Spot (extensive all-vegetarian menu); Ghenet (arguably the best Ethiopian in NYC—and how primally satisfying is it to eat everything with your hands?!?) Was recently treated to Al Di La for my birthday and it was worth turning a year older for; I now totally understand the cult of Al Di La. Sublime. I must also give a little love to the South Slope and extol the caffeinated virtues of DUB Pie Shop, as well as the gorgeous & decadent confectioneries of Ladybird Bakery.

Q: What good books have you read recently?

A: Two novels by Brooklyn authors have really rocked my literary world recently: The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (those Pulitzers sure know what they’re doing) and The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. Both stories are blessed with the scope, beauty, and poignancy that characterize classic works of fiction.

Q: Do you have any pets?

A: Beyond my ever-growing collection of ukuleles (see “Serendipity Petunia” in the photo), I have two very cute and animated tabbies: Zelda and Elliott (or “Zelliott”, if you want to get all zeitgeist-y). They’re identical twins, less than a year old, and they should really have their own sitcom.

SARAH

Q: Who are your favorite designers?

A: I have fallen utterly in love with Todd Reed's jewelry. His pieces always remind me of my countless visits to the Met. A walk through antiquity in the present.

Q: What is your favorite piece of jewelry?

A: Three years after I have bought it, I remain deeply enamored with my Super Charm Tarina Tarantino necklace. It is a huge, grey, lucite, fairytale-like necklace.

Q: What good books have you read recently?

A: I am currently enthralled by Oscar Wilde's A Picture of Dorian Gray.

Q:What is your creative outlet?

A: Writing has been my creativity's life long companion. I use it to reflect upon, and synthesize the world around me. I love the ability to suspend the reader's emotions with words. My second passion is photography. Through photography we can tell our stories without so much as a single release or intake of breath. The stillness of pictures allows them to move back in time. My memories are an ever-expanding catalogue of still frames. I love the beauty of the imperfections caught in a single moment, one that will never again be the same. Through photography we are given the opportunity to reflect upon our ever-changing idea of self. I have become absolutely obsessed with photo booths and they have witnessed some of my most cherished memories with those dearest to me.

NINA

Q: Do you have a favorite gemstone?

A: My obsession with citrine has moved onto yellow sapphires but I’m not sure how I landed on yellow in general. I used to have a vintage citrine ring with marcasites around it which has turned into my latest ring, of a large yellow sapphire surrounded by small diamonds. There seems to be a lot of labradorite and chalcedony being used by many, many designers right now, and I love both but its interesting to see them both get such attention with so many designers. My latest obsession is from Katharyn, which is rubies, which is inspired from her necklace, which is a strand of faceted rubies she got from the Clay Pot. I never was so drawn to rubies until I saw this strand she has. So gorgeous.

Q: Is there a particular designer or piece that you are obsessed with right now?

A: I sound like a broken record because I know everyone feels this way but I too am a huge Jamie Joseph fan and plan on owning one of her rings when the right one comes my way. I love larger rings and the different stones she uses in a more asymmetrical setting really draws me in. I was surprised to also find that her oval diamond pave ring and sand textured ring (together) as wedding/engagement rings, really interest me, and I love the idea of mixing metals with your wedding/engagement rings. I have a love of sterling silver as well, especially large silver earrings as I have a collection of vintage and new Mexican sterling earrings. There is something about the Me & Ro hammered disc earrings that remind me of that same quality. I love to wear multiple necklaces at a time, so I find MANY pendant style necklaces in the store that I fall in love with. My first purchase here was an Adam Smith necklace which was a clock-like pendant on a silver chain, with moving gears…very funky and (ta-da) multiple metals. Love.

Q: Best thing you've read recently?

A: I am so happy to have been reading so many good books lately but HANDS DOWN Sloane Crosley’s ‘I Was Told There’d Be Cake,’ was the most amazing thing I have read in a while. I love short stories, especially because I can fit a full one in on one subway ride, or before bed. Lately everything is becoming a movie and I am working hard to read the book first, to get the genuine experience. I did that with ‘The Reader,’ and was so amazed by the book and there was so much that didn’t translate into the film, it almost made me only want to read books, and not watch movies.

KAT

Q: Who are your favorite designers?

A: The designers that I've personally invested in while at The Clay Pot are Denise Betesh, Anne Sportun, Marian Maurer, Rebecca Overman, Melissa Joy Manning, Carla Caruso, Jamie Joseph, and Ele Keats. They are all exceptional jewelers and fabulous people!

Q: Do you have a favorite gemstone?

A: I always love rubies, aquamarines, and moonstones... and diamonds. I basically love anything foggy blue or dark red.. or sparkly.

Q: Do you have any pets?

A: I have an orange cat named Aslan who is almost three! He’s the sweetest cat I’ve ever known, and he’s great at keeping me company and helping me get up in the morning. Aslan really acts like his only job in life is to be unbearably cute… and luckily it is! He’s my little lion.

Q: What is your creative outlet?

A: I am a painter on the side and do a lot of large figurative watercolors and oil paintings. Art has always been the best way I’ve found to express myself, and I can’t imagine living without it in my life.