LYNNE MEREDITH COHN
Scene Editor

xposed piping snakes along the
ceiling, around industrial-style
lighting that reflects off clean,
white walls. Walking through
the glass storefront door, a musty whiff
of putty assails your nostrils, and light,
fun reggae music inspires immediate
relaxation.
There's nothing industrial about the
1,575 concrete square feet in West
Bloomfield's Boardwalk that comprises
You're Fired, the wildly successful cre-
ative brainchild of 29-year-old Stacey
Laker. It's simply her career dream-
come-true, and a favorite pastime of
chic suburbanites. The industrial touch-
es make you feel like you, too, could be
an artist.
This is a place to come for an hour of
re-creation, where there's no pressure to
be the next Picasso. Simply pay $8 an
hour, and pick an already-fired piece of
pottery As far as color and design, the
sky's the limit.
When you're done, Stacey or one of
her four part-time employees — all of
whom know regulars by name — will
put the pottery in a kiln, and when you
pick it up a week later, you'll have a self-
styled serving piece or home accessory.
You're Fired is one of seven walk-in
pottery places in Michigan, including
Kaput Kapot in Birmingham, and one
of more than 600 that dot the country.
Grandparents and parents are well-
acquainted with the pottery tradition,
says Philip Mekelburg, president of the
Contemporary Ceramics Studio
Association, and owner of his own
Atlanta site. "They did ceramics at camp
or at a traditional shop, in someone's
shed or basement or a back room some-
where or an old little run-down shop off
the beaten path with a bunch of long
tables covered in newspaper, with old
ladies smoking cigarettes."
Times have certainly changed. Now,
you can walk in off the street, wearing a
business suit or denim overalls, and pick
up a piece of bisquewear without worry-
ing about getting clay stuck in your hair.
New Yorker Emily Goodman led the
growing business trend of offering care-
free arts and crafts; in 1990, she started
the mass ceramics culture, and by the
end of 1995, there were nearly 80 stu-
dios around the country.
Stacey, Emily and Philip represent the
industry's large Jewish participation.
Philip laughs about the preponderance
of Jewish-sounding names at the associa-
tion's convention last summer. "It's really
funny, although I don't know what it
means.

118

8/28
1998

76 Detroit Jewish News

Clay Creations

A twentysomething helps people get in
touch with their creative, youthful side.

Stacey Laker sits beside some of her own creations.

Inset: Thanks to a new precious metal cla (PMC), amateur artisans can create their
own mezuzot. It looks like clay in putty form, but is actually pure silver suspended in
a clay binder, and when fired, takes a metal form, finer than sterling. You're Fired is
one of two studios in the United States testing PMC, developed by Mitsubishi.

He says painting pottery is a popular
but I didn't know what kind."
pastime because it is now considered "a
A West Bloomfield native who grew
form of entertainment — not a hobby
up at Temple Israel, Stacey majored in
for old people or women. It's an upscale
art, no specific genre, at the University
environment that gets people involved
of Wisconsin. "I was always into bead-
in a creative activity with low-commit-
ing, jewelry making — I used to curl
ment — you don't have to sign up for a
blades of grass or strips of construction
10-week class."
paper with a scissors. I was excellent at
Most of the studios are in high-rent
that," says Stacey, who became the
districts.
paper-curling expert in
You'll find high tables
For more information,
grade school.
and hard chairs, rough-cut
call You're Fired, (248)
"I like making mistakes
white paper covering table-
851-5594; Kaput
and figuring it out myself,
tops, and canisters of soft
Kapot, (248) 594-
rather than have someone
paintbrushes waiting for
8423; or the CCSA
tell me how to do it," says
delicate fingers to put them
web site, www.con-
Stacey. Still, she didn't
to use.
ternpstudio.org
believe she could have a
Stacey opened the studio
career as an artist; "I'm a
nearly two years ago, after
better copier than true
four years in rand. A former manager at
artist. I didn't feel I had enough ideas or
Somerset's Nieman Marcus store, she
confidence to be an artist."
says, "I always wanted my own store,
So she became an enabler.

An attractive forty-something couple,
and their three kids sit around a low
table near the front window. Together,
they are painting two tall candlesticks
for a daughter's bat mitzvah. The plan is
to paint 13, for candlelighting at the
party. Today it's the candle of happiness,
which mom and dad will light on the
big day.
The smiley faces and hearts painted
around the stem signify happiness, tht7--/
say, and each subsequent candle will be
similarly unique.
Stacey first discovered her passion for
pottery in Scottsdale, Ariz. When she
moved back to Michigan, in search of a
new career, she told her parents, Marty
and Renee, that she wanted to open a
studio.
They supported her from the get-go.
Stacey and her mother drove to
Cleveland on an average weekday to
visit her cousin, Lindsay, who owned a
studio. Although they expected business
to be slow, it was busy all day.
Stacey collected furniture from flea
markets, ideas from studios in Chicago
and Cleveland, loans from private
investors and opened You're Fired.
Ceramics is an age-old art form, and
Philip, from the CCSA, doesn't think.'"
the studio trend is a fading fad. "This s i
a revitalization of something that's been
around for the ages," he says.
In some places — like Atlanta, parts
of California and Florida — the trend
has reached saturation, he admits. But
not in Michigan.
"I couldn't believe how busy it was at
first," recalls Stacey, who lives in
Birmingham. "Mom helped, pouring s
paint, giggling. I've had other jobs where
I was not happy to walk in the building.
I work six days a week, sometimes seven,
and I haven't yet had that feeling."
It's no wonder. You're Fired is
open and airy, with lots of bright
colors and light music constantly
playing. A bulletin board near the
counter is plastered with photos of„__/
happy customers.
The people who patronize You're
Fired are as relaxed as Stacey. That's
because they've carved time out of their
day to paint and aren't in a rush. "It's a
nice way to spend an evening, not eating
or drinking," says Stacey.
At Philip Mekelburg's store in
Atlanta, accountants, lawyers, men in
their 40s and 50s walk in, looking likq. -/
they haven't picked up a paintbrush in
decades. "They look like they don't want
to be there, like they were dragged there,
and before long, they are into it more
than anyone else at their table, wind up
having a great time, and don't want to
leave," he says.

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