connie & alex matisse.

As a part of our maudern people series, we asked Asheville-based couple, Connie & Alex Matisse, for insights on modern intimacy. Connie & Alex are founders of ceramics company East Fork Pottery.

What is your relationship status?

Married with two kids to my business partner, Alex.

How long have you been together?

11 years

How did you meet?

When I was 24 I worked on a goat farm in deep, dark, rural, Western North Carolina. I lived in a double-wide trailer, drove a little truck, pretended to smoke Marlboro reds (couldn't actually bring myself to do it but I'd put one in my mouth once in a while), and woke up every day at 4:30 to milk 120 goats and shovel shit. I was selling cheese at a holiday market in the basement of a roller rink. My mom was with me, visiting from Los Angeles, worried about me not having friends and not pleased with the confederate flag:resident ratio in the county. Alex, 25, had just bought a piece of land nearby to build his pottery workshop. He was at the holiday market buying trinkets to bring home to his family for Christmas and a big bag of kale. He looked my age and clean-ish, so my mom encouraged me to say hi. I chased him down on his way out, extended my hand, and said, literally, "Hi. I'm Connie. Do you want to be my friend?" 2 months later we got snowed in together for 5 days—no electricity, no way out until we chainsawed through fallen hemlock. I moved in a month after that.

In your day to day life, how do you make time for intimacy?

Texting funny TikToks from across the office. Not much space for much else right now.

You feel most loved when__

Alex shouts me out in public.

A favorite literary or on-screen romance:

Elio & Oliver, Ennis & Jack, Ifemulu & Obinze, Catherine & Heathcliff, Nino & Lila, Graham & Megan (But I’m a Cheerleader), to name a few.

Unexpected turn-on:

Fucking love a good winker.

The perfect date:

I'm a sucker for an extravagant dinner—cocktails, oysters, Champagne, a rib eye, something creamy for dessert, and sloppy drunk sex to top it off. Or something involving ocean sport and Tiki drinks.