Janet Adam

Adam was born in Edinburgh on 14 January 1940, to Barbara Eunice Marindin and Captain Charles Adam, as one of four siblings.^[1] Adam attended West Heath Girls' School.^[1] After working as a secretary, she learned pottery on the Isle of Mull in the late 1960s.^[1] She moved to Edinburgh in the 1970s and was instructed in pottery through independent learning and a part-time course at Edinburgh College of Art.^{[2][non-primary source needed]}

Adam first founded the Cannonmills Pottery in the 1970s on Warriston Road in Edinburgh.^{[3][failed verification]} In 1983 the workshop moved to Henderson Row where it was named Adams Pottery.^[4] It served her and five other potters as a studio and workshop space.^[4]

Adam's work was primarily based around making functional individual pieces of pottery.^[2] She was a founding member of the Scottish Potters Association and contributed to it for 47 years.^[1]