Talking With Thee Queen of Ceramics
Her Helenness, Ms. Levi. (+giveaway!)
Today’s interview is with Helen Levi, majorly famous ceramic artist. Her signature move is putting luscious swirls of colors on sturdy stoneware. But fans also love her splatter collection as well as all her clever creations like textured tiles, tie dye-ish wall clocks, and clay paintings.
In this issue we talk about:
What it takes to become a majorly famous ceramic artist.
Where she stands on the “design parent” scale.
+ Helen Levi mug giveaway at the end!
Who are you and what makes you cool? (Because you are.)
Who me?! I’m a lifelong New Yorker and potter, operating a small production pottery studio in Ridgewood, Queens. I’m also the mom of a 4-year-old.
How does one make a viable living as a ceramicist? It seems like each piece requires so much time, and then there’s breakage, etc…
Great question! I love talking about this because one of my mantras is, this is not a volunteer position. This is my job and it needs to make money. To me this means pricing work at a level that makes sense for both my time and expenses. To address your specific observations: I’m pretty efficient and I rarely have things totally destroyed in the kiln these days. If you subscribe to my newsletter, the Herald, you’ll see my “whoops of the week” where I share the broken pieces that do still occur; it is a fragile medium after all! I also sell “seconds”— the imperfect pieces which are inevitable in production — at a discount in my Studio Shop every Saturday. That has always been a part of my business model: selling the mess-ups.
What moves the needle for your business? Is it press…new collection drops…reaching new IG users?
Gosh, the million dollar question. It used to be IG, but that’s less impactful these days. Sometimes it’s press, but that’s unpredictable too. I’ve been doing this job for a while and I still can’t always map out what people will want. Sometimes I am tickled by the surprise of what people are most drawn to, but it can also be stressful when a collection doesn’t always hit. I get a lot of referrals, repeat shoppers, and word of mouth traffic.
You have a kid. How old are they? And what was your postpartum experience like? (If you feel like sharing, no worries if not.)
My son was born in October 2020. I will always wonder what parts of my postpartum experience were just being a first time parent, and what parts came from having a newborn in the pre-vaccine winter of a pandemic. I’ll never be able to untwine those experiences. There was definitely some doom and gloom, mixed in with unbridled joy, of course. My heart goes out to all the moms who had Zoom baby showers or were too scared to have visitors to their home with their baby.
One of my ambitions with Schmatta is talking about the realities of design and parenting. There’s so much pressure to be a “good mom” that it feels like putting your own aesthetics and design preferences first is taboo. So this question is a two-parter: 1) What’s your domestic living situation? And 2) I’d love to hear a bit about how you adapted your home to accommodate a child and your thinking around the concept of sharing design with the existence of a child. And PS, it’s totally fine if you’re like, “it’s not cool to put your design preferences first” — all opinions are welcome here.
I live with my husband and my son, and although I’m an artist, I’m really not obsessive about the aesthetic of my home. I love collecting the work of other designers, and vintage pieces too. Luckily my husband and I are on the same page, which is that we want our living space to feel comfortable and function well, above all. We don’t have a minimalist home; it definitely looks like a child lives here. I was never too precious about my home before having a kid and that certainly hasn’t changed with his big basket of Magnatiles in the middle of the living room.
And how has being a mom impacted your business or design outlook? (If any.)
The biggest impact is just in me evaluating what, besides my work, defined me. Because for many years in my late 20s/early 30s, I wasn’t cognizant that I hadn’t really asked that question. I also hadn’t taken time off work in the entire time I had my business, so to be forced to take a step back really rocked my world. Now that my son is almost 4, I still don’t work as many hours as I did before he was born. I’m continue to grapple with what many, many parents before me have all had to figure out: how to make do with less time.
Any favorite kids’ things? (Whether it be toys, furniture…anything.)
I’m an obsessive Poshmark mom. I really can’t bear to buy brand new clothes for a person who is going to grow out of them in a couple months, but I also love to shop for him, so secondhand has really scratched that itch for me. It’s also the best way to source the same exact clothes or shoes in bigger sizes when there’s a devastation about outgrowing a specific item. Fellow toddler parents will understand! For toys, my son is finally old enough to really take an interest in basic arts and crafts activities, which is such a joy to me. I have much more fun collaging hand puppets with him than playing hide and seek over and over.
Also, do Schmatta readers a solid and spill on some of your secret sources. Homewares, vintage, clothing…whatever.
I go deep on the online secondhand sites. I toggle between Mercari, ThredUp, Poshmark, Etsy, and eBay to find specific pieces. The thrill of the search gets me! Currently I’m exploring my nostalgia by seeking out the perfect vintage LeSportsac bag.
Want to win one of Helen Levi’s corduroy cups?
To enter you must:
Be a Schmatta subscriber (if you aren’t, sign up here)
Comment on this post
Follow @helen_levi on Instagram
Winner will be chosen on January 17th, 2025. Best of luck!
Finally, a quick poll for you paid subscribers:
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Schmatta is written by Leonora Epstein, a former shelter pub editor-in-chief. Follow at @_leonoraepstein. For consulting and collab requests, please visit my website.
Love Helen's work! Also love your discussion of parenthood/motherhood in these interviews 🙌
I love popping into Helen’s space on Saturday strolls. Was excited to read more about her practice :))