Although Mr. Lane won’t disclose his prices or the annual revenue of his wholly owned company, he said that some of the larger installations cost more than $1 million.
Mr. Lane said that as a child, he had no plans to be a professional artist. He grew up in Oak Park, Ill., near Chicago; his father was a doctor and his mother was a nurse. He studied at both Lawrence University in Wisconsin and the Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, but he left without earning degrees and went to New York City in 1981. He moved into the East Village neighborhood, where he still lives, and supported himself with jobs such as picture framing.
Around 1994 (he doesn’t recall the exact date), he was inspired by a selection of midcentury pottery that he spotted in a Miami Beach curio shop during a weekend trip with friends. On his return to New York, he signed up for evening pottery classes at Greenwich House Pottery, a school founded in the early 20th century, and quickly found his calling.
“It really was like a visceral connection for me when I started working in clay,” Mr. Lane said. “It was very clear, very quickly, that I didn’t care about anything else — that’s really what I wanted to do. So fortunately for me, I found a way to turn that into a larger practice.”
More classes followed and, starting in 1994, he began to get commissions: His first client was William T. Georgis, an interior designer, who ordered a lamp. Mr. Lane said he was paid $300, more than his monthly rent at the time. Word of his work spread, and by 1996, he had orders from acclaimed figures in the design world such as Mr. Marino and the architect Lee Ledbetter.
Three years ago, Mr. Lane introduced a book publishing imprint, Scholes Press, to issue books documenting his own work as well as pieces by artists he admires, like the ceramists Trevor King and, next year, Shizue Imai. (His studio is on Scholes Street.)
“I love beautiful books, so it was a way to share information and tell a story,” he said. “It’s different than making sculpture. It’s a way of communication of my work, and also communication work of other people I love.”
