For Jeremy Anderson, the magic is in the making. The New York ceramic artist and designer creates pieces that highlight handmade details and celebrate the nuances of materials. “Form follows function for me,” he tells Business of Home. “The idea that you can turn a piece of mud or grains of bronze into something useful is magical.”
Growing up in suburban Minneapolis, Anderson first fell in love with ceramics in high school. “I took a pottery class and learned how to throw on a kick wheel,” he says. “I would go in between classes and practice, and eventually got really good at it.”
Though he pursued a corporate career as an adult, he joined community clay studios and continued making ceramics in his downtime. In 2012, he launched avant-garde lighting studio Apparatus with co-founder Gabriel Hendifar, where he further developed his eye for design while shaping his aesthetic. “That experience was transformative for me,” he says. “Gabriel is so talented and dreams big—and working alongside him encouraged me to take my solo practice more seriously and opened me up creatively to explore new ideas.”
In 2020, Anderson left Apparatus to focus on his own work, opening a studio space in Brooklyn, where he began making ceramic wares and lighting. His first collection, Piccolos, featured a series of sculptural vessels adorned with hand-painted linework. “Each piece was made up of a series of forms thrown on the wheel,” he says. “They became like little characters to me, so it was fun to play with scale and proportions.”
Since launching his studio, he has expanded his practice to include everything from porcelain pendant lights glazed in 22-karat gold luster, to bronze-legged drink tables and ceramic mirrors. “We now have a small foundry in the space,” says Anderson. “We make both wheel-thrown clay works and bronze elements that often get pieced together like a puzzle.”
For him, ideas can come from anywhere, and though his designs are grounded in function, they always offer an element of surprise and whimsy. “I’m drawn to things in the natural world that provoke wonder and a smile. If I feel like I have created something that looks as if it could walk off the table or swim into the sea, that’s my run-with-it moment.”
The artist recently showcased his latest collection, Held in Light, in a solo exhibition at Galerie56. Part of London-based Gallery Fumi’s residency at the Tribeca gallery, the exhibit spanned dozens of imaginative designs, including a dining table with a glazed stoneware and ashwood top, as well as a cast-bronze daybed upholstered in Zak+Fox fabric and topped with a horsehair mattress. “I wanted the hand in the making process to stay evident,” he says. “What could be seen as imperfections became the beautiful little moments that make each piece truly unique.”
Currently hard at work on an assortment of commissions, Anderson plans to show a selection of his designs, available through Gallery Fumi, at Salon Art + Design and Nomad Abu Dhabi in November. “I encourage collectors to be more curious about the artist and their craft,” he says. “Having insight into how something is made from beginning to end allows for a different kind of relationship with the object.”
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