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I take wheel throwing classes in my spare time and my cabinets are overflowing with mismatched ceramic dishes and mugs, so I may be biased, but I think pottery gifts are an excellent choice when you’re not quite sure what to get the food lover in your life. Whether said food lover is an avid home cook or their idea of cheffing it up is slicing a store-bought baguette and cracking open some tinned fish, there’s a great gift idea here for every friend and loved one on your list.
- The only mug they’ll ever want to use: The Mug, $44 at East Fork
- A clever fruit storage bowl: Emile Henry French Ceramic Fruit Storage Bowl, $140–$174 at Food52
- A teapot set for one: Small Teapot with Matching Cup, $136 at Etsy
- A set of handmade pottery that’ll keep their counters clean: This Quiet Dust Ceramic Spoon Rest Set of 3, $86 at Food52
- For the clumsy-but-crafty friend: Kintsugi Repair Kit, $41 at Etsy
A Cult Favorite Mug
East Fork is a pottery company out of Asheville, North Carolina that’s gained a cult following since its inception in 2009. While East Fork’s ceramic dinnerware and serveware have plenty of fans, I’d venture to guess that its best seller is The Mug—a piece so beloved, in fact, that it has its own hashtag. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of sipping your morning coffee out of one, you know why: It’s truly a joy to hold and drink out of, and comes in an array of colors that are practically begging to be collected. Consider this your chance to introduce a friend to the only mug they’ll ever want to use, or to help the friend who’s already an East Fork stan grow their collection by gifting them one of the current seasonal colorways.
A Ceramic Ode to Their Favorite Snack
We’ve officially hit peak tinned fish, so give the friend whose pantry is stocked with all manner of fancy conservas a ceramic holder to display their prized preserved goods. Pair it with a few tins of the good stuff for the ultimate tinned fish lover’s bundle.
A Keeper for Their Precious Stash of Garlic
We’ve all got that friend who sees three cloves of garlic in a recipe and automatically ups it to six. Get them a handmade ceramic garlic keeper to keep their stash safe from light and moisture. Made by USA-based Sawyer Ceramics, this stoneware number will look cute on their countertop and fits up to three heads of garlic at a time.
A Very Nice Fruit Bowl
This ceramic fruit storage bowl has a clever two-part design that allows you to keep your potatoes, onions, and unripe fruits in a cool and dark environment down below, and any fruits that need breathing room out in the open up top. Ventilation holes allow for air circulation, while the cork lid helps stabilize the internal temperature and absorbs moisture to keep those pesky fruit flies at bay.
The Gift of Always-Hot Coffee
This might look like a regular ceramic coffee mug, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. There’s a small ring of metal built into the base that reacts with the included wireless charging coaster to keep your drink warm all day, a ceramic lid that’ll keep things extra toasty, and an automatic shut-off feature if you don’t pick up your mug for an hour. Plus, unlike an Ember, another popular self-heating mug that we know and love, the OHOM is dishwasher-safe for easy cleanup—and the charging base is compatible with all wireless charging-compatible devices.
A Teapot Set for One
If there’s a frequent tea drinker in your life, get them a stoneware pottery teapot and cup set from jstarceramics that’ll make every afternoon teatime a true delight. This one is hand-thrown on a pottery wheel by UK ceramist Jodie Starnes and comes in several soothing colors. Pair it with a box of their go-to tea or a fun sampler set and you’ve got the perfect gift.
An Eye-Catching Serveware Set
Give the friend who loves to host this display-worthy set of serving platters from Sojourn Pottery. Each piece is handcrafted in Portugal and fired in an extremely hot kiln—which means they’re dishwasher-, microwave-, and oven-safe up to 450°F. The set comes in an array of gorgeous glossy greens and blues that’ll look great piled high with twice-roasted kabocha or adorned with this salmon with citrus and coconut-chile crunch.
A Clean Counter Guarantee
A spoon rest is a kitchen essential for every home cook, but especially one who’s always got a saucy stew or braise simmering once the temp drops below 40. Give the friend whose winters are peppered with cozy cooking sessions this set of porcelain spoon rests made by Lake Forest, Illinois–based potter and ceramic artist Dubhe Carreño. It comes with three pieces in a range of sizes, so they’ll have a place to put the wood spoon they’ve been using to stir that pot of brisket bourguignon, the whisk they’ve been using to keep their polenta from sticking, and the tongs they used to give their crispy brussels sprouts a toss. Their countertops will thank you.
A Kit for Repairing Their Broken Pottery in Style
For the clumsy friend who’s constantly shattering serving bowls and can’t seem to go a day without knocking a beloved pottery mug off the counter, get them a kintsugi kit so they can turn their accidents into home decor-worthy statement pieces—and learn a fun DIY technique in the process. Kintsugi is the Japanese process of using gold lacquer to repair broken items, which in turn breathes new life into what might otherwise be destined for the trash. There are lots of kits out there, but this one is specifically food- and even dishwasher-safe once cured, and it includes enough materials to repair 8 to 10 medium-size objects—so your giftee can mend that broken bowl set in time for soup season, the ceramic vase they knocked over last spring, and that set of ceramic candle holders that just magically dropped off the table one day.
