Sean Forest Roberts, Ceramic Artist & Owner of Forest Ceramic Co.
Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Sean Forest Roberts fell in love with making functional wares in high school. But he didn’t set out to become a professional potter. In fact, he did organic chemistry research while earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from Carleton College in Minnesota.
Today, his wildly popular poured ceramic pieces are shipped worldwide and have earned their Eastsound studio on Orcas Island — Forest Ceramic Co. — a cult-like following on Instagram. He and his business partner opened a Gallery in Eastsound in 2020, where they feature their work along with other local and regional artists.
Q&A with Sean Forest Roberts
Q: When did you start to take pottery more seriously?
Sean: After college I was looking for places to fire my work and to continue my glaze chemistry experimentation. I met a pottery professor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and he told me to come to his class the next day. I did, and ended up doing a two-year independent study, where I began developing the processes we use today.
Q: How did you end up on Orcas Island?
Sean: I was invited in 2014 by friends who were connected to Orcas Island Pottery, who needed help with their business. We traded my help during the day for access to their studio nights and weekends, where I continued developing my colored slip casting process for which we are now very well known.
Q: How did you end up on Orcas Island?
Sean: I was invited in 2014 by friends who were connected to Orcas Island Pottery, who needed help with their business. We traded my help during the day for access to their studio nights and weekends, where I continued developing my colored slip casting process for which we are now very well known.
Q: When did pottery become a full-time gig for you?
Sean: I went full-time with Forest Ceramic Co. in 2016. I’d been running Forest Ceramic Co. part time while working as a baker at Brown Bear Baking. I’d work four days a week in the bakery and three days a week in the studio. At the time, my stuff was sold exclusively on two shelves at Orcas Island Pottery. That first summer was bonkers with cups flying off the shelves and I couldn’t keep them in stock. So, I gave the bakery six months’ notice that I’d be going full time with the business.
Q: Where is your studio located?
Sean: It’s actually the studio I originally came to work in. The friends that invited me to Orcas left about eight months after I arrived, and I took over their studio space. But they took everything with them, it was an empty garage. I crowdfunded to buy my first kiln and built out the space over the last eight years.
Q: What is slip casting and how does it differ from traditional pottery?
Sean: Unlike traditional ceramic, slip casting works with plaster molds and liquid porcelain. I throw my original forms by hand then create a mold. In traditional slip casting, you would just pour white clay into the mold and then glaze like normal pottery. But my original process began when I decided to add color into the liquid clay, and the resulting marbling captivated me.
It’s this unique process that I have worked to control over the last 12 years, developing through experimentation and testing. Often you see something you like that may have been unintentional, then work to replicate it intentionally. This is how I have come to the hundreds of designs we have offered over the years.
Q: You have two different primary lines, your marbled collections and your carved collections. What’s the difference?
Sean: The marbled collections are where things began, and our tried-and-true staples. They’re all handmade, but they aren’t as time-intensive or physically demanding as our carved collections. The carved pieces are extraordinarily unique and complex. Many of the more ornate ones are done by my business partner Valeri Aleksandrov. Valeri is incredibly talented, we’ve worked together building the business over the last eight-plus years.
Q: Do you ever make pieces on a commission basis?
Sean: Yes! We’ve done a few larger orders for businesses as corporate gifts over the years, for say 100 cups with their logo on them. We’ll work with them to pick one of our marbled or carved series. The Aurora series is quite popular, and we made custom Auroras for the Outlook Inn here on Orcas Island. Within our color wheelhouse, we can help the customer pick color combinations, and then we can add the business’s logo along with our own on the bottom. Hope to do more in the future!
FUN FACT: When you book a fly-and-stay package at Outlook Inn, you get two Forest Ceramic Co. cups, custom made for the Inn!
