Camille Callahan started making pottery at Artshack in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, 10 years ago. An Australian based in NYC who works in creative marketing, she spent her off-hours taking classes and learning her craft in depth. When her company went under the radar in 2022, Camille realized she was ready to commit to being a full-time designer.
By then she and her husband, Thomas Callahan, a custom steel bicycle builder, had moved into a house they built on 20 acres in the Catskills. Thomas has a large studio on their property and Camille has installed a horse upstairs. But he longed for the community of his fellow “potters.” Since shared ceramics studios were an hour or more away, Camille took a gamble and opened her own. Clay Ground, on Main Street in nearby Andes, NY, is as united as he wished: it serves as a community space where other ceramicists move their wheels and onu, and it offers classes and welcomes newcomers of all stripes.
When she’s not teaching, Camille focuses on making sconces, pendants, and table lamps, designs she’s adapted for her home. Interesting lighting is harder to find than mugs and tableware, he notes. “I love the idea of creating a permanent platform in someone’s home.” His pieces are all handcrafted and intentionally, he says, “a little wonky.” Count us among the sorcerers.
Photos by Christian Harder, unless noted, all courtesy of Camille Callahan (@millhause).
Above: We discovered Camille’s work at The Cottage at Bovina Farm and Fermentory: she provided the Petal Pendant for unrefined terracotta pottery; $400. Photo by Sarah Elliot.
Above: Camille, Thomas, and their 6-year-old son live in a modern barn-style house: the couple worked with architects Henry Smith-Miller and Laurie Hawkinson of the prestigious NYC firm Smith-Miller + Hawkinson who are longtime friends of the Thomas family: “their wedding gift to us was to help design our house,” says Camille.
Ceramics in their living room include a triangular Camille Table Lamp, $300; Terracotta clock, $200; Petal Pendant, $400; and a two-ton Keyhole Vase. Their HearthStone stove is finished with soapstone, which retains heat; Their vintage Copco kettle helps calm the atmosphere.
Above: Camille commissioned a table on their deck from Catskills artist Jason Thomson—she got him to transform her chair into a 10-foot-tall design with red legs.
Camille and Thomas initially lived in an unheated cabin in their apartment while they thought about their future home. “We used a builder to build living shells: walls, floor, ceiling and electricity,” he said. “We moved and finished something at the same time as having a baby.”
Above: Camille specializes in slab construction designs. Here, he is at work on a jar, a clock, and a Ground Ground sign.
Elders in the ceramics community donated to Camille’s studio: Frances Palmer donated a slab roller she was not using. And artist Joelle Hoverson, founder of Purl Soho, “gave me her whole studio, all the tools, the wheels, the horn—now she’s painting.”
Above: Camille’s signature Shell Candle Sconce in frosted white bowls hangs over her vase and sconces. The candle sconce comes in a variety of sizes and finishes starting at $75.
Above: Camille’s White Shell Sconce, $250, is made from Sheffield Pottery’s unglazed white clay quarried on the company’s premises in Sheffield, Massachusetts. The Triangular Table Lamp, $300, comes with its own pointed fabric shade.
Camille gets her linen pajamas on Etsy from LinoTakes in Lithuania.
Above: “I made my first watch as a way to avoid looking at our phones,” Camille wrote on Instagram. Now there is one in almost every room in the house and it offers glazed versions (shown) with numbers attached. Camille makes all her pieces to order: check out her website and email [email protected].
We recently featured another designer of high note: Jennifer June of Loose Parts Kitchens.
More of our favorite ceramics:
- Trending Alert: The Revival of Studio Pottery Table Lamps
- Dishes That Double as Art: The Emma Kohlmann Tableware Collection from Hay
- Softedge: Durable Tableware for Everyday Use, Made in Japan
- Now Wanting: Slow Motion Ceramics from Estudio Vernís in Spain