A Ceramicist at Home in the City

Michele Michael of Elephant Ceramics takes us on a tour of her cheery Red Hook, Brooklyn, apartment, with a recently remodeled kitchen and appealing splashes of color.

A couple of years ago, Michael and her husband, children’s book author and illustrator Patrick Moore, decided their kitchen needed an overhaul. “We cook all the time, and we needed more counter space and more storage,” Michael says. They reconfigured the space to create an open floor plan with a freestanding work counter; Moore, who is a skilled carpenter, designed and built the cabinetry using marine-grade plywood with a white laminate. Throughout the apartment, Michael’s own organically shaped ceramics with painterly glazes add dashes of color and texture.

Photography by Philip Ficks.

Above: Michael keeps it easy: midcentury George Nelson pendant lights, white subway tiles, and Pure White CaesarStone countertops. For a primer on subway tile patterns, see our recent Remodeling 101 post.

Above: A collection of Michael’s own ceramics, including her signature glazed stoneware cheese boards, animates a corner of the kitchen. To learn more about her ceramics and to join the mailing list, go to Elephant Ceramics.

Above: The kitchen is small but very functional; the floors are blue Moroccan tile from Imports from Marrakesh.

Above: Dashes of color enliven the white interiors. The Cherry Checker Canvas Pillow ($140) is from Hable Construction. A collection of Michael’s own ceramics is displayed on the glass coffee table. The jewel-toned, brilliant blue Moroccan Beni M’Guild Carpet is from Breuckelen Berber.

Above: A collection of pottery and glassware on a midcentury sideboard. The painting is by Heather Chontos. Michael custom-ordered the Eames lounger in blue leather from Hive Modern.

Above: A bear figurine adds a note of levity to the tableau; the small white vase at left is by Elephant Ceramics; the striped vases at right are by Paula Greif.

Above: Red, white, and blue in the bedroom. For more of Michele Michael’s home, see A Terrace Garden in Red Hook–Roses Included. 

For more color inspiration, see more than a thousand images of Blue Rooms in our Photo Gallery.

N.B.: This post is an update; the original story ran on July 23, 2012, as part of our Summer in the City issue.