Issue #53: Peek inside this well-known ceramicist's light-filled studio in Queens
Helen Levi talks studio space, how she feels about alone time, and feeling like a part of her community
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.I once pretended to go to the bathroom mid-meeting to buy one of ceramicist Helen Levi’s clocks — they dropped at noon on the dot, and I knew if I waited for the meeting to end, the one I was coveting would be gone.
Helen started selling her “small batch” pottery after a serendipitous run-in with menswear designer Steven Alan at a party (his party, in fact). He was starting a home goods store, she mentioned her life-long pottery hobby, he placed a wholesale order… and eleven years later, she runs a thriving business and pottery studio and has been called “one of the most admired potters in the design world.”
I talked to Helen for our new series, A Space of Her Own, which delves into the rooms and spaces women have created for themselves.1
On the journey to find her current studio:
This is my fifth studio. I built up slowly — starting with one shelf in a community studio with thirty other potters, then moving into a different communal studio with fifteen potters, and then getting my own space, which was this 200-square-feet bowling lane-shaped space carved out of a woodworking studio.
From there, I made the leap to a studio five times as big in Red Hook. It was this gorgeous old factory building. I used to rent it out for photo shoots.
But the truth was: We had no heat, we had no air conditioning, we had no water. I had to go down the hall and around the corner to get water and bring it up in buckets. The flooring was old and beautiful, but gappy — which meant if I spilled water, it dripped down into the studio below me. To be in a ceramic studio and not be able to put water on the ground is insane. The ceilings would crumble into my pots… There were so many things about the space that made it hard to function in it. But I could afford it, so it worked for five years.
On finding beauty in function:
It took three years of looking to find my current studio in Ridgewood. It’s a floor-through: a very long rectangle with no dividing walls, so it feels very open. On its surface, this studio is a little less beautiful. But I have two sinks. I have heat. I have floors that are sealed so I can mop them! I once read a potter say the first time she had her own sink it felt like her princess studio. And that's how I feel every time I turn the air conditioning on.
On becoming a part of the community:
I feel a true connection to the neighborhood, and you know, part of that is opening the shop and having a community-facing building. But part of it is also having a kid. It's funny, I've thought back on all the neighborhoods I've lived in in New York over the years and wondered, Do they all have such bustling communities of young families, and I didn't know because I wasn't a parent? Or is that unique to Ridgewood? I don't know, but once my son was in daycare, and we started going to the parks all the time, it made me feel so much more connected. There are these elements of your life that hold a bigger space once you become a parent.
On needing alone time:
I have assistants who work part-time, and then I have a few days a week where I'm alone in the studio. I was always someone who liked and needed alone time. But it's so different when you have a kid — it's so hard to be alone because you're with them 24/7. I really crave the alone time to reconnect with my creativity. So I have assistants working less than I used to, because I need more time to switch gears and access that creative side of myself.
On her favorite part of the studio:
The front of the studio faces northeast and the back faces southwest. So in the morning, the front of the studio — where the shop is — is full of light. And then the morning light leaves, and in the afternoon, the back — where the wheel is — is blasted with light. You really feel the day move through the space.
On the shop:
About a year ago, I opened the little shop. We added a little partial wall with a curtain and more shelves to cordon off the front of the space. Now we’re open every Saturday — versus before, when we’d do one studio sale per month — and we get a nice trickle of people. It’s very chill. You can come any Saturday. There'll always be new things, because we're always doing production. It's always different, and it's always the same; it's always there.
On being open to her mind changing:
I love the space; I'm really happy there. I don't think there's anything I would change. But you know, I feel that way right now. I remember in the Red Hook space, after I'd already been there a few years, I moved everything around, and I mean everything. Which was such a pain. It was almost like moving again, but being there I saw what was working and what wasn't. So I like it now, but maybe in six months from now I’ll get an idea to change it up. I try to stay open to my own mind changing.
Thanks for chatting, Helen! If you’re in Brooklyn, stop by Helen’s shop on Sundays to check out the space for yourself and browse her incredible pieces. And no matter where you live, you can follow her on Instagram and shop online via her website.
Finally, ICYMI: The most popular link from Monday’s LWSOF was the book that made our guest look forward to aging.
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For those keeping track at home, yes, this is our second new series! Our first — which Aliza kicked off last week — is Friends With Cool Jobs.
Love Helen Levi and cherish the pieces I have purchased from her!
Oh i love Helen’s Ceramics! We have a few pieces in our cabinet!