Pottery Finds a New Audience Among Fashionable Men

New York Times

29-07-2025

Pricey pottery has found a new audience in young, fashion-conscious American men.
Precious earthenware is appearing on bookshelves, in curio cabinets and on the dinner tables of image-driven types with disposable income to burn.
High-end gallerists, artists and home goods boutiques say their male client base for ceramics has seen significant growth in recent years. Men's clothing boutiques across the United States now display handmade bowls, cups and vases in a manner similar to accessories like wallets or belts — indicating that ceramics are now considered part of a well-rounded lifestyle, like the hand-loomed Japanese linen shirts and bench-made loafers that sit beside them.
This rising interest in luxury ceramics, according to the men buying them, is the byproduct of changing gender norms relating to domesticity and decorating the home — a contrast to the calls by some for a return to traditional masculinity.
When Landon Gerrits began collecting ceramics in his early 20s, he felt like an anomaly. But now, Mr. Gerrits, who is based in San Francisco and who has invested in several high-end pieces of artisanal pottery, said he has noticed more and more friends appreciating the earthy, tactile nature of clay products and the longevity they offer in the home. It's an art form with both function and beauty.
'You are seeing an openness to men enjoying things that are aesthetic,' said Travis Burnham, 42, who lives in Queens, N.Y., and who has bought multiple pieces at Quarters, a home-goods emporium in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Manhattan, which sells handmade earthenware often priced in excess of $400. Mr. Burnham has purchased pieces there for personal use as well as to place in stores he designs for others.
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