The Los Angeles branch of mid-century institution Heath Ceramics materialized last Friday night in a sweet corner location on Beverly that will serve as a studio, gallery and first retail store outside of its Sausalito headquarters. The space designed by local firm Commune was clean and bright, wine served in teeny sake cups and a keg on the patio made for a festive feel, and all anyone talked about was the economy. But Heath Ceramics owners Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey were especially buoyant, telling Frances Anderton that a downturn would actually inspire more people to seek out lovingly handcrafted items. New partner Adam Silverman (of Atwater Pottery) was also all smiles, his wild hair providing its own interpretation of uplifting, as he called his new relationship with his longtime crush “a perfect match.”

Wandering the wares that included Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse collection and a well-curated bookshelf, we bumped into Dwell’s Michael Sylvester, who divulged juicy updates about next summer’s Dwell on Design (to be held again in LA). We were perhaps most charmed by the unrelenting energy of Edie Kahlua Pereira and Jessica Fleischmann, who are co-organizing the Uncompany Holiday Party this Sunday, December 14 for “freshly freelance” and gainfully employed creatives alike who want to find new ways to work together. Also spotted were AIA LA president-elect John Kaliski (he was installed Monday night); CalArts cohorts Lorraine Wild and Louise Sandhaus; Giant Robot‘s Eric Nakamura (from whom we snagged some of these excellent shots), and Greg Goldin, who was looking very pretty in pink. Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner were there, as was Brooke Hodge, and the actress Laura Leighton, who is perhaps most famous for an in-pool catfight as Sydney on Melrose Place (here’s the clip so you don’t have to go digging for that yourself). We spied ReForm School co-owners Billie Lopez and Tootie Maldonado (proud inhabitants of a shiny new Silver Lake space themselves) in the window as we headed out into the night.

A small earthquake apparently rippled through the room around 8:18pm but we thought it was simply the beating of our own heart as we brushed close to design event regular John C. Reilly, apparently a friend of Silverman’s. We had to be physically restrained when we came up with a brilliant twist on Reilly’s catchphrase as Dr. Steve Brûle on the cult hit Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!: For your Heath, John! For your Heath! Maybe next time we’ll get up the nerve to actually talk to him.