Workaday Handmade
Red Hook, NYBrand · Ceramics
Workaday Handmade makes hand-crafted, utilitarian ceramics in Red Hook, NY. Fusing clean, modern shapes with romantic patterns and unexpected glazes, Workaday products feel both traditional and wholly new. The pared down palate (white and blue, with pops of color speckled through the collection) points to a classic sensibility, while hand-painted lines add unexpected whimsy. From a quirky set of “Scribble Cups” (scribbled on with glaze pencil) to a bold “Yves Klein Blue Vase,” each Workaday product embodies the signature qualities behind the brand: rigorous craftsmanship, singular design, and playful, surprising details.
Founder and creator Forrest Lewinger is an artist and musician living in Red Hook, NY. He began hand-throwing ceramics on his lunch breaks at his day job, as a production potter at a high-end ceramics studio. He started simple, learning from his surroundings and teaching himself craft and process as he went. It wasn’t long before he began churning out vases, bowls, cups, and the occasional experiment—a lump of clay covered in gold luster, vases glazed to look like tortoise shell, and the aptly-named marbled “Lunch Pots,” to name a few.
“Workaday products reference the functionality and routine of work—that’s where they came from,” Lewinger said. “But I also want them to turn that banality on it’s head: to feel expressive and exciting.”
Lewinger soon realized that this detour from his day job was becoming a labor of love, and that there was a market for his work. He rented a studio in Brooklyn, began designing and producing on a larger scale, and Workaday was born.
Workaday has since been selling work to high end boutiques, museums, design stores, and commissions for large brands and interior designers. Because each Workaday product is made by hand, Workaday is busy filling orders and creating new designs.
