If you’ve ever wandered past the kiln room and felt that warm hum of activity—kilns breathing, carts rolling, people moving with purpose—there’s a good chance Ronan Sampson was in the middle of it. Ronan is a production generalist in the kiln room, with a ceramics background (and a writing brain) that makes him equal parts maker, thinker, and quietly meticulous craftsperson. We talked about glaze “personalities,” the strangely comforting smell of a working shop, and why sometimes the best way to respect a kiln is to treat it like a very large animal.
Q: What’s your role at Motawi?
A: I’m a production generalist in the kiln room.
Q: How long have you been here?
A: Around two and a half years.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you?
A: I usually get in around nine, get my apron on, and check a couple places that tell me what I’m in for. The kiln room crew tries to meet up as early as we can for a quick check-in, then we divvy up tasks. We rotate through chores so nobody goes weeks without doing something and forgets how.
Q: What were you doing before Motawi?
A: A handful of art installation, organizing, and sales/contracting jobs around Ann Arbor, Chelsea, and Ypsi—installing galleries, photographing ceramic sculptural work, building web stores, and getting pieces out to galleries. Some of the sculptures were huge—200 to 500 pounds—so there was a lot of moving very big work. I was also helping organize work for John and Suzanne Stevenson, who are well-known ceramic sculptors in the area. It was surreal handling pieces I’d only seen as little thumbnails in textbooks.
Pictured: A collection of Ronan's art sketchbooks
Q: How did you first hear about Motawi?
A: I went to Eastern Michigan University for undergrad and got a BFA, mostly studying ceramics and other 3D art. After school I started reaching out to local studios—community studio setups where you pay a monthly fee—and through meeting people there, I learned how Motawi actually functions as a company. I’d seen Motawi tiles in houses and gift shops, but didn’t realize how close to home it was. I kept checking the jobs page every couple weeks. I also had a rough stretch after college during COVID—I applied to 80-something jobs in a year and heard back from fewer than five. So when this kiln room production generalist position opened up, I applied.
Q: What made you want to work here?
A: I like fast-paced, labor-based work. Before the art installation stuff, I did vet tech and farm labor, and I worked at a bakery—so I’m used to pivoting between tasks. In the kiln room you can do tasks in different orders, and deadlines exist but can be less rigid than some areas. Also, after contracting, it was a relief to have structure and benefits: knowing when you work, having protocols, not constantly improvising systems for chaotic storage spaces. When I interviewed and saw the cards and boards and charts—actual protocols—I was like, “You have protocol.” And everyone was kind.
Q: Do you remember your first impression of the Tileworks?
A: I really liked how it smelled and sounded. It had been a while since I’d been in a shop environment, and it was instantly comforting—the hot metal smell, hot beeswax, dust, metal, wood, all together.
Q: What part of the work do you enjoy most?
A: I don’t know if I can pick one task over all others. But I’ve been learning a lot about dipping different colors, especially as formulas change and with the newer shiny glazes. Some tiles are heavy or need to be held upside down, and I was reflecting recently that there’s a lot of tile I can hold now with one hand 200 times in a row that I absolutely could not when I started. The physical ability, and the mental paying-attention-to-the-glaze part, is really satisfying when jobs come out well.
Q: Is there a moment you felt especially proud of your work?
A: I tend to dip medium-dark—sometimes too dark—because it feels safer for coverage. But I had an order in a glaze that really shows light vs. dark: Spruce (5998), which turns brown when it’s light, and you want that brown coming in just the right amount. The first time I hit it on an order and a designer didn’t just say “pass,” but said it was really nice light—that felt like the work was paying off.
Q: What’s something you’ve learned or gotten better at since you started?
A: Dipping, definitely—but also postural/orthopedic stuff: how to hold my body better and manage weight. Coworkers with serving experience have helped with how to carry trays. I’m also lightly ambidextrous, so whenever I can, I split work between my right and left hands.
Q: Can you share a fun or unexpected detail about your job?
A: I kind of think of all the big equipment as creatures—like the kilns are elephants. When we do repairs, it feels like giant dental work or vet tech work: sanding, fitting hard parts together. We also have googly eyes on equipment—the Zamboni, carts in the back. It adds fun, but it also helps you respect them. Don’t break them, don’t mess with them at the wrong time—kilns can bite.
Q: What’s something quirky or surprising about working at Motawi?
A: The amount of food and goods swapping and trading. It’s almost like a video game. “I bring you half a watermelon, you bring me a dozen eggs…” That kind of thing.
Pictured: Pitcherbeast
Q: What do you like to do outside of work?
A: I have a wife and a dog—Oma—and we go on walks, play, visit family, and every now and then take trips to Motawi to say hi to everybody. I also read, listen to music, watch shows and movies—just trying to keep up with what’s happening so I don’t miss two years of movies and lose touch with the world.
Q: What’s something that might surprise your coworkers?
A: I can seem very easygoing, so it can surprise people that I’m very particular about a lot of things—I just know how to manage it. Also, I have a lifelong love of bugs, and often keep some in a tank at home. Recently millipedes, pill bugs, and cockroaches, and in the past ants, worms, crickets, grasshoppers, mealworms, beetles, moths, butterflies, and flies. Watching their appearance and behavior is responsible for a lot of biomechanical themes in my art.
Lightning Round
Morning person or night owl? Night owl.
Coffee, tea, or something stronger? Coffee: Colombian, medium roast, with cream and sugar.
Favorite Motawi tile design? The 6x8 Autumn Woodland when it’s been heavily fumed—turns kind of pink/peach.
If your job were a tile, what would it be? A bunch of fingers and different tools and sharp implements pointing upwards.
One word to describe Motawi? Kind.
Q: What are you excited about right now—at work or in life?
A: Jellyfish [an upcoming Motawi Second Studio tile Ronan designed]. I’m excited to see samples come through—and it’ll feel real when you see a stack. I’m also appreciating my family’s support (and managing their excitement).
Q: Tell me about the work you bring to the winter market and employee markets.
A: I’ve been getting back into hand-carved tile—being around tile all the time either makes you stop thinking about it, or think about it constantly. My own work is mixed sculptural/functional (which, apparently, is controversial in ceramics). A lot of my pieces are cups, but with feet or legs or heads or tails—“Creature Mugs.” I also make larger figurative vases based on plants and trees, and anything that looks like a food vessel is food safe.
Pictured: Motawi 4x4 Frog, Ronan's 4x4 Millipede-In-Conglobation, Motawi 4x4 Scarab
Q: Any dreams for the future—big or small?
A: I’d like to go to grad school at some point—either studio ceramics or glaze chemistry. I’d also love to teach at the university level. And I’ve always fantasized about opening a community studio (grant writing, though!). I’d especially love to help kids get into clay earlier—if we start violinists at four, why not give kids a lump of clay?
Bonus: You studied writing too—how does that show up now?
A: In addition to ceramics, I majored in language, literature, and writing—plus English linguistics—and I write a lot, even if it’s not for publication. I use my notes app constantly to think through what order I want to do things, and I did a lot of technical writing and editing of instruction manuals. Art became possible in a bigger way when scholarship support came through—and then I could do both writing and art.
Ronan’s interview has that kiln-room blend of humor and seriousness: respect the equipment, respect the process, stay curious, and keep your hands in the work. Whether he’s dialing in the perfect “nice light” Spruce dip or dreaming about teaching kids to love clay early, Ronan brings a steady, thoughtful energy to the heart of production—and a little googly-eyed joy, too.
Ronan has ALWAYS been very artistic from an early age. His eye for various textures and textiles combinations are absolutely incredible Also his drawings and paintings and Christmas ornaments are unbelievable