We had the good fortune of connecting with Sydney Marguleas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sydney, putting aside the decision to work for yourself, what other decisions were critical to your success?
The most important decision I made when starting the business was to focus on one specific product and do it really well. The process of launching a business is daunting, so it was important to take the time to figure out what I enjoyed making, develop my own style around it and then understand how to make it appealing to customers. For me, that product was dog bowls.

Like most potters, I started off making a lot of bowls that had no real consistency in terms of shape, size, or color, and I was gifting them to friends and family who were just happy to have a handmade piece. It quickly became apparent that I needed a theme to help me focus both personally and professionally, to ground myself and build toward a larger business idea that felt differentiated. Initially I went the “I make bowls” route – coining myself @venicebeachbowler on Instagram – because we all know an ice cream bowl isn’t the same as a salad bowl, but that wasn’t cutting it. I needed to find my niche and wanted to make something that felt functional and easily replicable but also unique.

My collection of mismatched bowls evolved into dog bowls with a clay bone on the bottom, which led to personalized dog bowls where I stamped individual names onto the bone. That’s when I realized I found my niche and MVP to start a pottery business.

Today, I currently make three products – Dog Bowls, Ashtrays and Matcha Sets – which has helped expand the business and focus on three specific lifestyle needs of customers. All products are functional, one-of-a-kind and designed to enhance your everyday rituals – whether it’s feeding your dog, unwinding with a joint or perfecting your morning matcha routine. By starting with something as simple and specific as a dog bowl, it allowed me to shape my brand and products around a cohesive narrative to push the business forward.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Art has always been part of my life in some capacity, but always a fun creative outlet that didn’t have a ton of rigor or structure to it. Photography, drawing, painting, pottery, etc were supposed to be the fun things you did in your free time. I’m proud of myself for taking that leap and turning something that was once a hobby into a functioning business.

Learning how to throw on a wheel was my first challenge. I put in hours of lessons and studio time, got busy with life and took a year off, then started that process all over again and invested in a studio membership in Santa Monica. Perfecting a new skill gave me a sense of accomplishment but also an opportunity to continuously improve on something I was passionate about.

Figuring out how to differentiate my pottery was the second challenge. I knew I wanted to make functional pottery versus a pretty piece to look at, but what made it unique? Did I have a defining style or color palette? Could I build a business around it? Early on, I made an intentional decision to only use recycled clay, meaning I use the leftover scraps from all different types of clay colors and textures to create my work. I prefer using recycled clay because of the unpredictable nature of how it interacts with the glazes, and it’s more eco-friendly. It motivates me to be more experimental and creates a level of excitement every time I see the finished product, regardless of how many times I make the same dog bowl. The use of recycled clay also inspired the name of the business, terroir, which refers to the type of soil or natural environment where something is produced. Having grown up in Palm Desert – quite literally in the dirt – there is a natural connection to clay and my roots, which leads me to the brand.

Building a brand around my pottery was the third challenge and equally as important to me as the product itself. It started with a name, logo, photoshoot and a cohesive narrative stitched together to create a website, which inspired bigger ideas around partnerships, dog influencers and the fast-growing pet category. I had also recently been laid off and amidst contemplating “what’s next,” I realized my career was rooted in building other peoples brands and marketing other peoples products. I saw an opportunity to apply that skillset to my pottery and create a brand and product that I built with my own two hands.

I still face these challenges every day, but they’ve been the stepping stones that led me to launch terroir. Today, terroir creates functional, one-of-a-kind pottery designed to enhance your everyday rituals and all pieces are made locally in Los Angeles with recycled clay. Tomorrow, there might be a new story to tell but I’m incredibly grateful for the risks I’ve taken and the support I’ve received to see how my story unfolds.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Los Angeles has something for everyone but I’m a beach person so most of my recommendations are on the westside. A few of my favorites:
– Spend a day in Malibu: Drive up PCH with an ocean view the whole way, hike Sandstone Peak, get lunch and a drink at Neptune’s Net, watch the surfers at County Line and stay for sunset
– Bike along the coast: Take the Marvin Braude bike path from Santa Monica down to Manhattan beach. Walk along the Strand, get seafood at Fishing with Dynamite and a drink at Shellback Tavern
– Have yourself a beach day: Pick up Bay Cities sandwiches in Santa Monica and do a picnic at the beach, stop by Dudley Market on your way home for a glass of wine and oysters
– Do an outdoor movie night: Go to Hollywood Forever Cemetery for an outdoor movie night or show and bring a picnic – either Sugarfish or a pizza. If cemeteries aren’t your thing, do a drive-in movie night.
– Go to a Dodgers game and then Golden Road Brewery
– Weekend options: spend a night or two in Palm Springs, Ojai, San Diego or Santa Barbara, all within a two hour drive from LA

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my parents who played a pivotal role in my journey with pottery. As a kid, I loved going to those paint-it-yourself ceramic studios and coming home with a homemade piece that I could use every day.

One day my parents decided to buy one. It was a local spot in Palm Desert called The Hard Clay Cafe that I grew up going to, which is where my appreciation for pottery began. I have fond memories of helping my mom setup the studio for birthday parties, learning how to work the kiln and organize the glaze wall, and figuring out how to turn the studio into a functioning cafe. The Hard Clay Cafe gave me a home to fuel my creativity and an opportunity to witness a local, small business in action.

Today, I’m still inspired by my parents’ decision to buy a shop on a whim and make it their own. I’m grateful I have an opportunity to pursue a passion that started at a young age and now make (and paint) my own pottery for other people to enjoy, with the hope of one day opening my own storefront.

Website: https://shopsyd.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terroir_ceramics/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydneymarguleas/

Image Credits
Jes Workman

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