While in New York last week I attended the New York Gift Fair.  Over the next few posts I’m going to highlight some of the vendors that appealed.  Some were new to me and some were not, but the thing that struck me was how many designers were in their booths.  Jonathan Adler, John Robshaw, Annie Selke and the two featured here, Christopher Jagmin and Frances Palmer.

I clearly have a thing for ceramics lately, but I’ve been aware of Jagmin’s pieces for a while.  In fact, we exchanged emails over a year ago about his number plates.  I’m a big fan.

His silhouette pieces are new this season as are the vintage plates, above, that have been enhanced by his designs.  The really good news from Christopher was that Hall’s will be carrying his pieces, so if you are “in town” do be on the lookout.

It was a delight to meet Frances Palmer as I have always admired her work at George Terbovich’s shop.

Connie Beall has selected a beautiful assortment of the ivory pieces, but I do love that black pitcher.

More blogger favorites from the Gift Fair can be found at Style Beat, Haskell Harris and Hollister Hovey.

Sometimes as I go skipping through the world of interiors I am delighted by something new.  An awakening.  And sometimes I gasp, whether audible or not, at the beauty that I find.

Much, much too often I find that I have made no discovery at all.  Not new, merely new to me and I am embarrassed by my lack of knowledge.

Such was the case when I visited Christopher Spitzmiller’s studio when I was in New York this week.  Was I surprised by Chris’s beautiful work, by his melt in your mouth glazes?  I was not.  Was I surprised that he was gracious and generous and lovely?  I was not.  I had heard that already.

What surprised me was that Roy Hamilton was working quietly in a small back corner of the studio.  What surprised me were his beautiful ceramics.

It was the subtle yet beautiful texture of his work in neutral that gave me pause.

Neither he nor Chris made me feel the fool when I admitted I was unaware of Hamilton’s work.  Neither made me squirm that I did not know that his ceramics have found a place in the projects of Parish Hadley, McMillen, William Hodgins, Darrell Schmitt and Steve Chase.

Smiling and patient they showed me the work and let me feel the relief of the slipware without mentioning that over the last twenty five years Hamilton has been honored by the Rhode Island School of Design, had commissions from Tiffany & Co. and a collection of fabrics and wall coverings for Donghia.

No, they didn’t.  Instead we chatted amicably about a fellow Kansas Citian who lives in New York, a name that comes up again and again.  

Chris lured Hamilton to New York from sunny Los Angeles, a move he might be questioning this week as the weather in New York is truly atrocious. 

His decorative pieces are designed as vases and bowls though he notes that the vases often end up as lamps.  They are currently working to create a website to feature Hamilton’s pieces.  That is a happy surprise.

Top three images Christopher Spitzmiller’s work with Clare Potter, the remaining pieces by Roy Hamilton.  His pieces sometimes pop up on ebay.

I had the great pleasure of stopping in to see Elizabeth Wilson of Asiatica last week.  She’s particularly engaging, but I am always stopping myself from stealing surreptitious glances at all the beautiful things in her shop.  When we had wrapped up our business she said, “I have something I want you to see in the back.”  These are the magic words; only good things could follow.

For the last forty years or so Elizabeth has been gathering Japanese kimonos to use as inspiration and resource for her clothing designs.

Recently she and her team have organized some – some – of the hundreds of kimonos on shelves by color.  It’s a stunning collection.

If you click on the pictures they will enlarge so you can see the detail of the pattern and color.

As we all stood and admired and said, “Oh, look at this one,” and, “Did you see this?” I asked her what she would do with them, her beloved collection that she has gathered from hither and yon, from people who could not see the value of these pieces.  She’s not sure.  Something.  Something special.

You might remember a really terrific image from House Beautiful this month.  I could not stop studying Christopher Spitzmiller and Clare Potter’s new line of ceramics.

My mother had one of those white porcelain lamps with the roses appliqued on it when I was a little girl.  I begged her to put it in my room.  Wisely, she declined, but I made her move around me as she was pinning the latest pinafore rather than turn myself so that I could gaze on that lamp.

Spitzmiller and Potter’s pieces are like that, except they’ve been touched by the wand of fairy godparents.

It’s likely you’ve seen Spitzmiller’s work in countless magazines and most recently on New York Social Diary.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a couple of pairs of his lamps up close and the glaze is other-worldly.  There is nothing like it and those dime-a-dozen knock-offs will be at the curb in no time while Chris’s lamps will grace your grandchildren’s tables.

And, yes, we’ve gone from Spitzmiller to Chris because I emailed him after seeing the House Beautiful story and said, “I must know what inspired this shift; I’m captivated.”

And he emailed me right back.  Even by email you can tell he’s gracious and engaging.  Chris and I do have a mutual friend, but that is not how we connected and the same is true of Chris and Clare Potter.  While they share a friend it was seeing her work that drove Chris to her studio to discuss a collaboration.

“Unfortunately, or fortunately for me, I had to meet her on my own, in my own time, which was probably the right time to meet her. We both needed a little something new to shake us up.”

Thank heavens.  Chris crafts the vessels then sends the blank base to Potter to add the decorative elements.  She reads each piece to see what it wants and then works from there.  Do click on the individual images and you will see the detail of the flowers and be surprised by bees and bugs.  While they have both worked with colored glazes in other works for these they have chosen to keep the purity of white.

The pieces are coated in a clear glaze that is pink before it’s fired.  And makes the pieces look as if they have been dipped in candlelight afterward.

These stunning pieces are available through Christopher Spitzmiller or Mallett Antiques.