Interview with Designer, Karen Patinkin

We feel so lucky to have Karen Patinkin’s ceramics featured in our first collection of The Storied Table. Others may agree since many one of a kind pieces have sold in our first month! There are collectors out there who can’t get enough. I personally collect Karen’s work and am excited about what she’ll do next (if we can convince her to create more for The Storied Table) . Today we talked to Karen about her creative process and learned more about what makes her work so special.

Karen, over at her studio at Lill Street Studios fires her work in a gas kiln at 2300 degrees. The high heat, she explained, is necessary for the porcelain to become vitreous and contributes to the strong durability of her work. I have been personally amazed at how my collection has made it through many cycles of the dishwasher!

In an artistic career that has spanned 40 years (and still counting) inspiration, technical expertise as well as serendipity plays a part. The finished pieces show intricately beautiful designs which are planned to a point and then the magic of firing takes over. Karen is constantly inspired by Islamic Art, especially Iznik ceramics and Byzantine design, as well as the textiles of India .

While frequently traveling through the world, Karen collects ceramic plates (“easy to fit into a suitcase”), which then become part of a collection of wall art in the artist home which she shares with her architect husband, Peter Landon. Numerous travels have taken her from Mali, to Mexico, Berlin and Finland and beyond. Throughout Karen’s home, personal memories, personal art, pieces collected from her travels all combine to form an ever changing richly artistic environment.

We hope you will check out Karen’s work for your own storied home.  Click here to view many of the products she has in our shop!  More of Karen’s work and inspirations can be viewed here.