Humming Bird Ceramics at Lingua Franca
Introducing Hummingbird Ceramics
Last year at a dinner, my friend, Carey Lowell, told me about her small company, Hummingbird Ceramics – handmade pieces made in the most serene studio setting in Katonah, NY – and I was intrigued. After the team paid Carey a visit upstate, our fondness for both her and her magical creations grew. What is it about one of a kind pieces made by hand? They're captivating in the best kind of way. The antithesis of all of the mass production filling our daily lives. Similar to our sweaters – all stitched by hand with love and care – Carey's ceramic pieces resonate with the specialness that's unique to handmade objects. Each one was carefully sculpted by Carey's hands in her studio:
The candle holders pictured below have their own story to tell. They are molded from gun parts sourced by her friend's organization, The Caliber Collection, through the organization's robust gun buy-back program (supported by Cory Booker, amongst others). To date, they have taken over 300,000 illegal guns off of the street and a percentage of each candle holder goes back to this wonderful initiative:
Our capsule collection with Carey also includes pieces 22k gold touches – "Kintsugi" style. It's the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer and powdered gold. It treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise, and it reminds me of this Navajo tale I try to tell to every embroidery class: Navajo weavers would deliberately sew imperfections into their rugs. They believed that only the divine creator was perfect and that these mistakes were small ways to remember and celebrate their imperfect humanness. Anyway, I love Carey's take on this beautiful tradition:
Yes, every single piece in this collection is beautiful. But they've also got soul. They make for a perfect gift with a story to share. Don't they just make you smile? Shop these one of a kind pieces now online and in our Madison Ave store. I am so proud to be presenting Carey's work to you.
xo Rachelle
