Balancing art and commerce in feats of clay

Michael Wainwright, founding CEO of Michael Wainwright U.S.A. LLC, has turned a childhood love of getting his hands dirty into a thriving business that got its start in New York City and has a strong presence in Westchester and Fairfield counties. 

“I studied all the visual arts, including jewelry-making and glassblowing,” he said. “But I think the thing I love most about clay is its tactile quality. You can’t touch hot blown glass,” he said with laughter that is as easy as his wit.

His tabletop creations and giftware – everything from a $55 nut dish to an $8,000 bowl replicating the dome of the Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul – can be found in some 175 independent and national stores, including Current Home in New Rochelle, La Dentelliere in Scarsdale, Hipchik Home in Armonk, Hoagland’s in Greenwich, Iconic Modern Home in Bridgeport and Simple Elegance Home and Gifts in Westport; as well as Bloomingdale’s 59th Street flagship in Manhattan, Bloomingdale’s White Plains, Neiman Marcus online and Saks Fifth Avenue online.   

In a 30-year career, Wainwright has sold more than 15,000 units, with the ceramics he makes –part of an $11-billion pottery market that is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.8% through the next five years – featured in independent stores, which want more unusual items, he said. The glass and metalwork he designs for others to manufacture – such as a 24-karat gold-ringed Truro Red Wine Glass Set of two ($150), inspired by Cape Cod’s dunes – are carried by national retailers.

Of course, numbers don’t tell the story of the works themselves, which blend art and utility – like crystal-glazed, 24-karat gold- or platinum-finished wall sconces/vases and dinnerware, evoking nature, especially the sky and sea; and porcelain, gold-finished American flags suggesting the paintings of Jasper Johns and Kintsugi, the Japanese art of embracing the imperfect.

While most of the ceramics are made at a 3,000-square-foot space in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, that is half-warehouse, half-store and studio – with three kilns and another three at his neighboring home – and the glass and metal pieces are manufactured around the world, Wainwright owes a great deal to a fortuitous start in New York City.

After an artistic, musical childhood in Maryland and Washington, D.C., where he attended Annapolis’ Key School and the District of Columbia’s Field School; and undergraduate work in Ohio Wesleyan University, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts as well as a Bachelor of Arts in English literature, Wainwright got what was essentially a free ride for graduate studies at New York University. There he ran the clay studio and fired the kiln when he wasn’t working on his Master of Arts in ceramic sculpture. 

Living in a 2,000-square-foot, essentially rent-stabilized artist’s loft in Brooklyn in the 1990s,  Wainwright created his pieces during the week and sold them on weekends at flea markets and fairs, traveling by subway, his works in a handcart. (“New Yorkers have a bad rap, but people always helped me on the subway, every single time,” he said.) 

He kept up these weekend gigs until his father sent one of his dishes and a letter to John Loring, now design director emeritus at Tiffany & Co. Before he knew it, an awestruck Wainwright was presenting his works – “wrapped in The New York Times, not the cheap newspapers” – to Loring and a group of well-heeled people at Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue flagship (today called “The Landmark” and part of LVMH Moët Hennessey’s vast luxury goods portfolio).

Tiffany liked what it saw as did the now-defunct luxe women’s department store Henri Bendel, convincing Wainwright that flea markets were a thing of his past. His first wholesale show followed in 1995, succeeded by debuts at the New York International Gift Fair (today NY NOW); Barney’s, another iconic, former department store in Manhattan; and Bloomingdale’s.  In 2001, Wainwright and his pregnant wife, Juilliard dance graduate and movement therapist Leslie Nelson, moved to Great Barrington.

Today, their children are in college – a son exploring the arts and astrophysics at Oberlin College and a daughter drawn to photography and getting her hands dirty at Clark University – while dad continues to create works, tend to business with a staff of four and attend wholesale shows like the recent Shoppe Object in Manhattan and the Atlanta Gift Show.

“I love what I do, but I don’t like to run a business,” said Wainwright, who has tried different business models, including investors and a stint with Lenox China.

What he likes is to be on his own – “throwing” his beloved “pots.” Clearly, buyers hope he’ll be doing so for many years to come.

For more, visit michaelwainwright.com.