Homeware designer Jonathan Adler says being unemployable is the best

You often tell of your pottery teacher dismissing your talent in college. How did you overcome the rejection? “I wanted to be a potter and my pottery teacher at RISD [Rhode Island School of Design] told me I had no talent, so I left with my tail between my legs. I think that having someone tell you you can’t do something is a fabulous incentive to do it.

The best thing about me is that I’m completely unemployable. And that was proven by the fact I was fired from five jobs in a row. Making a career as a potter was a preposterous idea but when I had no choice, it was the one skill I had.”