Aleisha Duchateau was still settling into full-time pottery work—a pivot prompted by the pandemic—when West Elm came calling about stocking her custom planters and ikebana vases as part of their local makers collaboration collection. “I had no idea how to operate in that capacity, especially from my apartment; my pottery wheel was just on my patio,” the Atlanta-based ceramist says with a laugh.
Now, she works in a large, shared studio in a warehouse near Atlanta’s southwest end, making minimalist tableware and home goods as Utility Objects and collaborating with wholesale partners and shops across the country.
Duchateau’s pottery is aesthetically calm and grounding, embodying her meditative approach and drawing on Japanese and Scandinavian design. Her recent series of “rock” mugs and espresso cups looks like a sandbar covered in beach pebbles and serves as a visual record of the clay bodies she has used so far, including terra cotta and stoneware in white and charcoal.
The artist, who graduated in 2017 with a BFA in photography from Georgia State University, credits a junior-year college ceramics class with sparking her passion for clay. A volunteer work-study position at Atlanta’s Chastain Arts Center in 2019 and 2020 helped her understand the ins and outs of managing a studio, teaching classes, and producing on a larger scale.
Duchateau's rock mugs and cups serve as a visual record of the clay bodies she has used so far, including terra cotta and stoneware in white and charcoal.
