MEET THE ‘POTTER TO THE STARS’
Maker of luxurious lamps, Christopher Spitzmiller coming to Houston
The Obamas had two of Christopher Spitzmiller’s Patricia lamps in Prussian blue. The Bushes had a pair of double gourd lamps in claret residing in their private quarters.
Before the Clintons left office, they bought a number of the potter’s lamps for their New York home. And though the Trumps haven’t yet decided on their White House décor, Spitzmiller hopes that before Trump’s term is up, he’ll have his wares back at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Spitzmiller, a New Yorker whose lamps are purchased by some of the country’s top interior designers for their most exclusive clients, will be in Houston to greet customers on April 13 at Found, where his lamps and his new line of tableware are sold. His new dishes, bowls and even a garden stool are both beautiful and functional, a creamy white background with billowy swirls of blue.
Often described as the “potter to the stars,” Spitzmiller recently talked about his new tableware collection, historic preservation and what he likes about Houston.
Q: How have your trips to Houston been?
A: I came here two years ago for a trunk show, and Houston is one of the few places that things get bought at the show and carried off. Women will say, “Let’s go load these three things in the back of my car because I’ve got to go pick up my kids.”
I’ve done trunk shows in other cities, Los Angeles and all over, and we sell one or two things at the show but get orders for more later.
Q: Since you loved ceramics and pottery from an early age, was there an influence in your life? Did you grow up among artists or designers?
A: I’m from East Aurora, N.Y., where there’s a lot of emphasis on the handmade/ craft movement. Elbert Hubbard wrote about the American Arts & Crafts movement, so that was in my mind. And my mom always had a really nice house; that influenced me. I like the utility of things I make … that it improves people’s lives matters a huge amount.
Q: Did you one day just say, “I want to make lamps,” or was there an evolution that simply led you there?
A: (I worked for) an event planner in Washington, D.C., who gave us the summer off. Some friends and I did a show in Georgetown. Mac Hoak was just opening Mecox Garden in Southampton, and I went up there and made all
these dishes. It was a disaster; everything broke right out of the kiln.
Jackie O’s designer Richard Keith Langham found me at Mecox Garden and was a friend of a friend. He could look through the broken pieces and see some talent. He wanted me to make lamps. He drew pictures, and I would make them.
For a lot of years, I made lamps and lamps and lamps and lamps. Now I make accessory things, too. It’s not an area I thought I would concentrate on, but so much of my career has been a pleasant surprise.
Q: And now you make tableware. Tell me about that.
A: The tableware line is out now, and we’ll be coming out with a mug in the fall, and then in spring (2018) we’ll have a cup and saucer for tea.
Q: As you make custom designs for clients, what’s the strangest thing someone has ordered?
A: Right now we’re making a two-tone lamp — we’re doing a lustre glaze of real gold or platinum outside of the ceramic glaze. The top has gold and then brown glaze, then platinum. It’s super glitzy — more glitzy than I would have in my home. It’s out of my comfort zone.
Q: You’ve got a big operation to manage. Are you ever able to sit at a potter’s wheel to just create things?
A: At the end of the day, when everybody leaves, I take an hour or two by myself to make things. Mostly it’s things we keep, but sometimes I put it back in a pile of clay. One time I needed a container for dog treats, so I made one myself, and now we make them for other people to buy.
Q: Which design style do you lean on for your lamps?
A: I strive to make things that are timeless. It’s not about 2017 or 1980. It’s all based on Asian influences of shape and form. I’ll see an example in books or at an auction, and I’ll take a picture, then make a sketch, then we’ll make six or eight of them. We’ll take the best one out and make a ceramic mold out of it.
Q: Your Clove Brook Farm in Millbrook, N.Y., has been written about a lot. How did you get through a seven-year restoration and two-year interior design process?
A: It took so much longer and cost so much more than I ever thought. It looked like something out of an Andrew Wyeth painting, with a kitchen from Home Depot in 1970. But it had that kitchen and a washer and dryer, and I stayed there and had people over for dinner the whole time.
At one point, I called my friend Clare Potter, who is a potter, and she said it’s like having a baby. After you’ve given birth, you won’t remember the pain. That’s the truth; I feel that way now.
I put in a really big garden, and it’s my therapy. I grow flowers, sweet peas in the spring, then roses and peonies, then in the fall I shift to dahlias. There’s enough to make a salad for me and whoever’s with me, but it’s mostly flowers.
Q: You’re pretty famous yourself, so do you still get excited when a big-name designer or customer buys your lamps?
A: Of course. Yes, definitely. We work with regular customers and designers, but I also do a lot with Alexa Hampton and Cullman & Kravis, so I don’t always know who the end client is. For me, there’s nothing better than opening Elle Decor and seeing my lamps in somebody’s house.