Interview: Lalese Stamps of Lolly Lolly Ceramics Discusses Her Wildly Ambitious 100-Day Project, Brand Activism, and the Need for Vulnerability

In the summer of 2020, Lalese Stamps (previously) found herself in the middle of a boom in her then-fledgling business, Lolly Lolly Ceramics, an experience she recounts in the latest interview supported by Colossal Members. The timing coincided with increased attention on Black creatives and brand activism, two points Stamps considers profoundly impactful still today.

You reach a certain point in your personal life and in living in America, where you’re fed up, especially as a Black person. We live in a country where history gets forgotten. I want to be as joyful and positive that I can be every day, but I’m also not going to let people forget that things are continuously happening and that you have to use our voices.

In this conversation with managing editor Grace Ebert, Stamps describes the arduous and vulnerable task of designing 100 different mugs in 100 days, the difficult decisions necessary in small business, and where Lolly Lolly is headed next.