It Started with a Spoonrest

Today I had a visit from a customer who has been using Kaleidoscope pots for a long time. She and her husband did a wedding registry many years ago.  Over the years some pieces have broken so she wanted to replace them.  While she was browsing through work we talked and I got to hear some of her story about collecting the work.  She said something that I have heard many times over the years of talking to the people who collect Kaleidoscope Pottery:  “It started with a spoonrest.”  

Apparently she and the man who eventually became her husband were together at the Norwalk (Connecticut) Oyster Festival many years ago and saw our booth. They didn’t know it at the time, but the spoonrests they bought that day (one for each separate household) would lead to a set of dinnerware for their combined lives, purchased for them by friends and family for their wedding. 

There’s something about stories like this that make me profoundly happy. Part of what I make becomes a little piece of the story of someone else's life.  It’s this sort of connection that I’m always looking for in creating hand-made work for people to use. Some people use it only on special occasions, others use it every day, but if I succeed in making the world a little more beautiful, I feel like I am doing my job very well. There is great satisfaction in that.