Rehabilitated Dishware
Rehabilitated Dishware began as a senior thesis project at Parsons School of Design and launched in 2003, the year I graduated. The concept was straightforward: source discarded dishes from thrift stores, yard sales, and estate sales, then reglaze and refire them with bold color and graphic pattern. Every piece came out one of a kind. Nothing was manufactured. Nothing was new.
The project took off immediately. After debuting at my senior thesis show at Parsons, the work was introduced to the design world at ICFF that same year and was covered widely across design press. A Rehabilitated bowl was among the first pieces to sell at The Future Perfect when the store opened in Brooklyn in 2003 — my first retail account.
What drew people to it then is still true now. There will always be perfectly good dishes being thrown away. Sourcing them and giving them a new glaze and a new life is a straightforward rejection of the idea that objects need to be replaced rather than transformed. The original dish is still there underneath — its history isn't erased, just updated.
The project has never stopped. Today I make Rehabilitated Dishware on a custom order basis only. You tell me what you want — colors, motifs, bowls, plates — and I source the dishes and make it for you. I also work with customers who bring me their own pieces: dishes they've inherited, dishes that don't fit their current aesthetic, dishes with sentimental weight that they want to keep using. I rehab them for a new life.
Some of my Rehabilitated Dishware customers have been ordering from me for over twenty years. That continuity means something to me. This project is where everything started, and I'm not done with it. Please write me below if you would like a piece for yourself.
