Helen Levi

Founder and Designer

Helen Levi

While growing up in the East Village, Helen Levi took up pottery as an after school activity at the age of five, not knowing that playing with clay could eventually become her full-time vocation. After studying photography in college, she juggled part-time jobs living the New York artist life, one of which was teaching pottery classes at various schools. Then, last fall, both of the schools she taught at were shut down (one due to being destroyed during Hurricane Sandy), and Helen found herself wondering what to do next. Luckily for her--and us!--she bumped into Steven Alan at an event and then sent him some pictures of her ceramic pieces. Now, her earthen wares are carried in his of-the-moment stores and created by hand out of her studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

“I find a lot of inspiration from things that I wish I had in my own kitchen, so I make it. Those things tend to function the best, and I think what functions the best is also what people like the most,” she says about her practical yet aesthetically distinct pieces that include items--like a perfect little colander--not often found in porcelain. “A lot of pottery has that really earthy natural look or it’s totally on the opposite end, and it’s super sharp lines, all white, and I want to kind of be in the middle.” But what really drives her success as a potter and as a brand is her love for the craft and the ability to, sometimes, just ride with the flames. “There’s really nothing like it. Where there’s a kiln, there’s a fire, and sometimes you lose a bunch of pieces and you want to just pull your hair out, but for all the frustrations, there are really a lot of happy surprises too--things that you’re not planning, but come out and show you a different way of looking at something.”