In a Zoom interview with Vogue, Seth Rogen sat “spinning a just-rolled joint through his fingers.” He talked about raffling off some of his handmade vases to make room in his closet for more.
Despite his role as Benny in Steven Spielberg’s coming-of-age film “The Fabelmans" and last year’s launch of Houseplant, Rogen seems to be most excited about his new hobby as a potter and more specifically making ashtrays.
“My journey with pottery and with Houseplant were kind of parallel in a very nice way, it seemed like no one had made a new one in the last 30 years,” Rogen said, adding that the search for nice ashtrays for his own home compelled him to become a serious potter. He soon began experimenting with ashtray designs and rolling trays that have become prototypes for some of Houseplant’s bestsellers.
“I couldn’t be happier because the brand was truly born out of what I was already doing.” During the pandemic, Rogen worked the clay in his home pottery studio. “Having my own kiln is like a real revelatory thing in terms of learning and experimenting,” he said of the creative freedom that eventually resulted in his “gloopy” glaze technique, which recently turned up as one of Houseplant’s coolest ashtrays.
Crowded Closet Equals Raffle
Meanwhile, Rogen has accumulated a lot of his own work. In fact, he admits he has “a closet full of shit.”
Although he’s given away a lot of his pieces to friends and charity auctions, Rogen is now launching Handmade by Seth in which four original vases will be given away to four lucky winners via a raffle on houseplant.com starting Wednesday Sept. 28 and running until Oct. 4.
“I have no desire to hoard these things for myself,” he said of the pieces that are named for characters from “Point Break” and “Demolition Man,” “this just seemed like a fun way to get them into people’s hands.”
Rogen then shared with Vogue his creative process, life philosophy and why weed is wellness, at least for him.
Keep Your Brain Busy: Rogen suggests hobbies.
Make pottery: It’s been around for tens of thousands of years, which is very comforting…usually the opposite of most jobs, he said.
Surround Yourself with Beautiful Things: Rogen says he got into design and art through comic books and with friends who did graffiti in high school.
Smoke Weed: "I’ve been smoking since I was 13 years old, which is not necessarily something I recommend! But it’s been well documented for me. Now, I just smoke weed all day every day and I love it. And thank God it’s out there because it seems to be what I need."
Keep Family Close: Rogen talks about the beauty of collaborating in creative pursuits with his wife Lauren Miller Rogen.
