In Conversation w/ Seth Rogen of Houseplant
Founded by Seth Rogen and childhood friend Evan Goldberg, Houseplant is a high-end lifestyle brand rolling a new perspective and vintage looks into an exciting new cannabis-centered venture.
Taking design cues from the 70s and 80s – don’t worry, the good ones— the company is shedding the negativity and outdated assumptions of the plant through interior design-tier aesthetics and top-of-the line functionality. This results in products that people are not only proud to own, but compelled to show off— a key step to normalizing the culture around cannabis. After all, when your All-In-One Rolling Tray or Block Table Lighter is gallery worthy, what can people really say?
When Houseplant first launched, there was so much interest that their site crashed. Today, Bodega is proud to be one of the first and few purveyors of Houseplant’s highly sought after products. To mark the brand’s first foray into home goods and retail, we caught up with Canadian-American actor, comedian, budding ceramicist, and most appropriately, company co-founder, Seth Rogen, to learn about his vision for the brand, their attempts to take on the stigmas and misrepresentation in the industry, and of course, his ideal smoking scenario.
Ladies and gentlemen… Seth Rogen!
What makes Houseplant different from other cannabis- related companies?
I don't think anyone has created household items that are this lovely and well-designed with the weed community in mind. We kinda created a category that didn't really exist, which gives us the opportunity to make things that no one has seen before…. It was really born out of a personal desire to have things that complimented my lifestyle. I couldn’t find them, so we made them.
How does Houseplant challenge outdated stigmas?
Everything we do is based on the idea that people who smoke weed are productive, creative, upstanding members of society like anyone else. And again, people who love weed also love nice things...these aren’t mutually exclusive at all and in fact, go quite well together.
What is your role in the Houseplant design process?
I’d say a lot of what we’ve made up until this point has been either me or Evan living our lives and thinking about what items would make our day-to-day better. We have an incredible team of designers and product experts who make these things come to life, but at the end of the day, it’s really just thinking about what would be useful and fit well into people’s spaces.
What is Houseplant doing to advocate for equity, reform, and justice in regards to people of color in the industry?
It’s important to us that we educate ourselves and use our platform to inform others of the incredibly racist “War on Drugs,” which despite legalization is still going on today in record numbers. It’s something I reference often but there were more people arrested in recent years for cannabis than for all violent crimes combined. That’s fucked.
But beyond education, we actually have a program called In-House where we work with small cannabis businesses from underinvested-in communities to provide them the tools, knowledge, and resources that we have to aid their success.
You and Houseplant co-founder Evan Goldberg curated a vinyl box set for Houseplant, which presumably is intended to be thrown on while smoking. Seth, what’s the perfect smoking situation for you? What music is playing? What time of day is it? where are you etc… etc….
I love listening to music when friends come over. I have a record player built into my coffee table, so I often find myself sitting around the living room with some people, smoking weed, and with everyone taking turns putting on the records they want to listen to.
What are some of your favorite songs on the records?
CIGARILLO!!!!!
Houseplant’s aesthetic is heavily influenced by designs of the 1970s and 80s. What is it about that era that speaks to you? Is it in any way reminiscing over childhood or items you remember?
We grew up in the 1980s, so naturally, our sensibilities gravitate there. But there also was an analog quality of life back then that we think goes quite well with the tactile nature of smoking. But mostly I think that creative people try to emulate the things from their childhoods that interested them and inspired them.
Do you have plans to release ceramic items that you personally made through Houseplant?
Yes! We’re working on the details now in terms of planning how to do it in the right way, but it will happen soon.
This is the first time Houseplant has been in retail...what excites you about the idea of people seeing your products in real life like this?
The internet is wonderful in terms of being able to share our work with the widest group of people, but there’s nothing that can replace actually seeing these products in person. Anyone we’ve ever met that’s seen Housegoods in real life has told us how much it added to their appreciation of them, so we’re incredibly excited that more people will now be able to experience them in this way!
