The Honey Jar — How My First Hero Piece Found Me

I want to tell you something I have never said publicly before.

Last year I gave everything I had to my job. Everything. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, something happened that made me stop and look at my life very differently. I am not going to get into the details. But I will say this — it made me ask a question I had never seriously asked myself before:

What am I actually building?

Because I was building. I am extremely efficient. I show up, I deliver, I go above and beyond without being asked. I have done it my whole career. But last year I looked up from all of that and realized I was pouring every ounce of that energy into someone else's dream. And I decided I was done doing that.

So I came home to my studio.

Actually let me back up. I had been planning this since December.

My first collection was dinnerware and cups. My second was forms and vessels for Valentine's. The third was always going to be kitchen — that was the plan from the beginning. And somewhere in that planning I found these marble lids on Etsy and I became completely obsessed. Like could not stop thinking about them. And I thought — yes. A honey jar. She is the one.

So I made her. I glazed her in the warmest richest yellow I could find. Put her on my counter and loved her immediately.

Then I posted her on Twitter almost casually and walked away.

150,000 views. Over 10,000 likes. Strangers asking if they could buy her. My phone going off for two days straight.

I was not prepared for that. But I also was not surprised — because when you make something you genuinely love, people feel it. The internet just confirmed what I already knew sitting in my studio in December.

I make small collections — that has always been my thing. Intentional drops, limited pieces, nothing too big. A single hero piece was never part of the original plan. But my community spoke and I have learned to listen to them. Plus my friends have always told me I have an eye for aesthetics. So I thought — why not lean all the way in?

I want to be clear about something though. My 9-5 is not the villain of this story.

Corporate gave me the financial stability to buy my wheel. To build out my studio. To experiment with glazes without the pressure of needing every piece to sell. To take risks creatively because the rent was already covered. I am genuinely grateful for that and I am not walking away from it until the time is completely right and the numbers make sense.

I am keeping my job. Intentionally. Until I can no longer — and by that I mean until what I am building here makes it unnecessary, not until I am too frustrated to stay. There is a difference and I know which one leads to good decisions.

But I am also done pretending that a 9-5 is the ceiling. It was never supposed to be the ceiling. It was always supposed to be the foundation.

The honey jar is the hero piece of my next collection. Golden Hour. Dropping end of April.

She is coming with wooden lid options for people who want something more accessible. She is coming with a sandy glaze salt and pepper set because my community literally voted on that colorway and sandy won unanimously. And she is coming as the first official chapter of something I am building intentionally now — not accidentally, not casually, but with everything I have.

Here is what I know about myself: I am extremely efficient. Whatever I touch, I show up for fully. I have spent years proving that in rooms that did not always see it. And lately I have been thinking — if I can do that for someone else's company, imagine what I can build for myself in five years.

I am just getting started. And I want you to be here for all of it.

The list gets early access. You already know.