I’ve always wanted to work with Ian Ingersoll, a local cabinetmaker who impeccably crafts everything from William and Mary to Shaker to mid-century modern to today. Though Ian’s talent is truly immense, we share a similar approach. Like us, he and his fellow craftspeople have always made everything by hand, from start to finish. And they imbue their story—their skill, interests, and surroundings—into each piece.

The character of our chosen materials, however, could not be more different. Wood is not clay. Where one is strong and sturdy, the other is fluid and malleable. Where one is well-behaved and predictable, the other is mercurial and capricious. Qualities that made us think we could learn a thing or two from one another, so we decided to do something together.

Collection 25.01, as it became known, is a product of the many loves that have influenced both our work: the way Gerhard Richter layers and layers paint and then scrapes it so handsomely across a photograph. Nature’s use of the elements to carve wood into undulating, ethereal shapes. How the flow of the Bantam River reflects the canopies of the trees that line its banks.

It is also an exploration of two materials, two approaches, and two people coming together. Clay and wood on their own are capable of impressive things, but it turns out that together, they are a marriage of equals. Stylistically, the clay’s layered glazes and organic forms have strengthened the wood’s innate character, its cerused grain now eddies across the carefully planed surfaces.