From the Reclaimed collection, this platter honors the resilience of Western North Carolinians rebuilding after Hurricane Helene. Every mark records the work of restoration; every flower celebrates hope. A portion of the proceeds supports Western NC artists through the Center for Craft's WNC Craft Futures Fund. Make your donation today: centerforcraft.org/craftfuturesfund
Studio: CIGO
Born of Carolina soil, my work begins in earth, passes through fire, and emerges transformed. Clay remembers what the ground forgot; glaze reveals what the flame intended. Sometimes a piece resists its maker, and those are often the most honest.
Everything here is one of a kind, made by hand in my Charlotte studio from North Carolina stoneware; the small irregularities are not flaws, they are proof a person was here. Each piece carries an intention, whether pressed into the clay as a word or spoken by the glaze itself: grow, breathe, be still, refuse to quit.
I make these to be lived with, not admired behind glass. Slow coffee before the house wakes up. A matcha whisked in a bowl wide enough to turn the wrist. Pick up the piece that says what you have been meaning to say, bring it home, set it where morning finds it, and let it do its quiet work. I like to say what I do all day, mostly, is make dirt hold hands and set it on fire.
Welcome to the studio that brings “Ideas to Life.”
Intended Collection
Handmade Pottery with Meaning - Every piece starts with an intention. Sometimes that intention is a word pressed into the clay before it ever sees the kiln: Pray. Grace. Grow. Breathe. Survivor. Dream. Sometimes no word is needed at all; the glaze says it, the form says it, and you know the piece means something the moment you hold it.
Every piece is one of a kind, made by hand in my Charlotte studio from North Carolina stoneware, and even the waste feeds the process, collected as dust to turn into our signature Purple House Glaze. The small irregularities are not flaws. They are proof a person was here.
What you take home is not really a mug, a bowl, an ornament, or a plant stake. It is a daily reminder that sits where you will see it and says something you probably needed to hear. Pour-over coffee before the house wakes up. A matcha whisked in a bowl wide enough to turn the wrist. Herbal tea steeped loose while the kettle sighs. Touch them daily; that is how an intention settles into a life.
Raku and Pit-Fired Pottery - Some pieces earn their meaning in the fire itself. This is where I surrender control on purpose: raku pulled glowing from the kiln, pit firing where flame and smoke draw their own marks. I set the conditions; the fire improvises. Flame never signs the same name twice.
Every piece is fired in special ways here in North Carolina, and the smoke and the fire literally cannot be repeated. That is not a limitation. It is the entire point.
What you take home carries the evidence: smoky halos, copper flashes, crackle where the heat licked hardest. A raku vase or pit-fired bowl from this shelf is a genuine one of a kind; no factory could fake it, and no factory would bother. Keep water in it, flowers in it, light in it. The fire already did its work; yours is simply to live with it.
Ignited Collection
One of a Kind Upcycled Ceramics - Some pieces refuse what they were supposed to be. A pot that cracked in drying, a trimming that collapsed, a glaze that ran somewhere unexpected; the clay tells a better story than my original plan, and I have learned to listen. Instead of the scrap bucket, these pieces get a second life.
I rework and refire them by hand in my Charlotte studio, grounded in this state's clay, and nothing that leaves this shelf existed on purpose, which is exactly why collectors love it: upcycled, sustainable, and truly one of a kind. Even the trimmings go back into the pug mill and return as handles, or turn into mosaic tiles for future projects, so almost nothing here is wasted.
What you take home is not a corrected mistake. It is a piece that survived its own failure and is better for it. Some days that is a comfort to hold; some days it is a mascot. Garden art, brush holders, wild little pots for whatever refuses to quit.