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IMoDD Hours:
Thursday – Sunday 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Closed Thursday, December 26 – Sunday, December 30, 2024
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design
524 Broadway Kingston, NY 12401
845-383-1333
For IMoDD location and parking, see the map below.
New IMoDD Video:
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Anomalies and Curiosities of Dinnerware
part of the IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom lecture series
Presented by Margaret Carney
If an anomaly is something that deviates from what is standard, normal, or expected and a curiosity is something rare and novel, and dinnerware is basically anything that can be found on a tabletop, then you can only imagine what I am going to share during my presentation. Bring your curiosity and claim a seat at the table while we explore this topic full of masterpieces dating from ancient times to the present, including work created by contemporary artists and the great designers for industry.
Margaret Carney is a ceramics historian with a Ph.D. in Asian art history, and a B.A. in anthropology and archaeology. As museum curator she has curated hundreds of exhibitions over multiple decades, published numerous books, exhibition catalogues, and journal articles, and has lectured world-wide on diverse topics mostly relating to ceramics. In 2012 she established the International Museum of Dinnerware Design, now located in Kingston, New York. Her approach to life is food-centric, with marzipan being at the top of the food pyramid.
What’s New with IMoDD:
New Podcast about IMoDD from Kaatscast: the Catskills Podcast
Kaatscast is a biweekly series featuring Catskills culture, history, sustainability, local interviews, literature, and the arts. Shows are hosted by Brett Barry and produced by Silver Hollow Audio, in the heart of the Catskills. Voted “Best Regional Podcast” 3 years in a row.
Inaugural Exhibitions
IMoDD is presenting two inaugural exhibitions. The first is a curated exhibition of Dining Grails. Included are nearly 400 fabulously designed objects by leading designers for industry as well as masterpieces by contemporary artists in the tabletop genre such as Eva Zeisel, Russel Wright, Roy Lichtenstein, Eddie Dominguez and Pop-up book illustrator Robert Sabuda. The second inaugural exhibition, Dining Memories offers a chance to remember cherished dining experiences through abbreviated, intimate vignettes such as picnics, innovative Mid-Century TV dinners, diner moments, tea aboard the Queen Mary, the art of high chair fine dining, and more. Follow the links to learn more about these exhibitions:
Link to: Dining Grails
Link to: Dining Memories
à la carte gallery
Our interactive gallery where you can try pulling a tablecloth out from under some dishes! (And share your success by posting a video on Instagram)
Carry Outs
Carry Outs is IMoDDs gift shop featuring books, calendars and some very special dinnerware.
Upcoming Zoom Lecture:
Wednesday, January 15, 2025, 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Vadna of California: Duality in Dinnerware!
part of the IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom lecture series
Presented by Lynn Humferville Zenick, Jim Drobka and Scott Vermillion
When Vadna of California introduced its innovative dinnerware design in a “two-tone color scheme and a combination of materials, wood and clay,” a 1947 newspaper article described it as “Duality in Dinnerware,” a term that aptly describes the Vadna of California story.
In 1946, Bill and Vadna Humfreville, a-husband-and-wife team opened Vadna of California in Los Angeles, collaborating in a dual design capacity. Bill’s innovative approach involved designing dinnerware shapes with thin walls and paired with wooden bases and handles, while Vadna utilized her refined aesthetic to formulate the glaze colors and create hand-painted dinnerware patterns.
During their 25 years in operation, the company location and name evolved. Seeking a quieter life, Bill and Vadna relocated their family and Vadna of California to Leucadia, a small coastal community north of San Diego. To take advantage of Leucadia’s vibrant tourist trade, Bill and Vadna added a small retail store showcasing their own pottery and items from fellow potters, artisans and local businesses. They changed the company name to Vadna Ware to better describe their expanded business.
The Vadna business model was marked by duality. In response to the dinnerware industry’s decline due to a flood of low-cost imports into the US market, Bill and Vadna adjusted the company’s emphasis from labor-intensive dinnerware sets to mugs—a popular cup shape at the time that required less production effort.
Lynn Humfreville Zenick (Bill and Vadna’s daughter), Jim Drobka, and Scott Vermillion will present and discuss the intriguing dualities of Vadna of California and its relatively unknown and fascinating history.
Lynn Hunfreville Zenick is the daughter of Bill and Vadna Humfreville, owners and operators of Vadna of California. When she was five, her parents relocated the family and business to Leucadia, California. With her parents working at the pottery and store every day, Lynn virtually grew up on the premises. She has fond memories of having unlimited access to clay, glazes and other materials to craft various objects. As she grew older, she worked at the store on weekends and during the summer months. Bill and Vadna would often take Lynn along on business excursions to Los Angeles, where they attended gift shows, visited their pottery mold maker, and dined at the Tam O’Shanter restaurant—a place that she loved and is still in business today. Lynn is a social worker who continues to live in California and is devoted to her four children and six grandchildren.
Jim Drobka became interested in Vadna of California when it was pictured in Bill Stern’s Mission to Modernism book, and Jack Chipman’s California Pottery Scrapbook. The elegant designs, and the unique combination of ceramic and wood on some pieces made an immediate impression. This led to collecting examples of Vadna and researching its history. He has been collecting mid-century dinnerware since 1988. Interest in Russel Wright, Eva Zeisel, and other midcentury designers has grown to include collecting production from many California companies. He has lent pieces to several museum exhibitions, including the 2006 “Eva Zeisel: Extraordinary Designer at 100” exhibit at Mingei International Museum, San Diego. He also researched and wrote the chapter about Zeisel’s Riverside China for the book Eva Zeisel: Life, Design, and Beauty.
Scott Vermillion is on the board of the International Museum of Dinnerware Design (IMoDD), and is an avid vintage dinnerware collector, designer, and design historian. He became interested in Vadna of California when tasked to write a history after the IMoDD acquired a set of their dinnerware through the Bill Stern estate. He has lent pieces to several museum exhibitions including the Cooper Hewitt’s “Russel Wright: Creating American Lifestyle,” and “Serious Play: Design in Mid-Century American” and “Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890-1980,” both at the Milwaukee Art Museum. He has contributed to several related books, including Eva Zeisel: Life, Design, and Beauty; he is co-editor of the Eva Zeisel Forum Newsletter; and administrates several social media pages devoted to vintage dinnerware.
You can register for the free virtual presentation HERE and we will send you a link the day of the event.
Photo Captions (from left to right): Vadna Humfreville, and her brother Gene, in front of the Vadna Ware production building in Leucadia, California, around 1955, (Vadna of California archive photo provided by Lynn Humfreville Zenick); Vadna and Lynn (holding a plate in the Fruit Festival pattern) in the Vadna Ware store, 1955, (Vadna of California archive photo provided by Lynn Humfreville Zenick); Vadna of California plate assortment in alternating glaze colors of Cloud Grey, Sun Yellow, and Raisin, (from the collection of Jim Drobka, photography by Jim Drobka); Sunburst Creamer (Cloud Grey with Sun Yellow interior) with wood handle, (from the collection of Jim Drobka, photography by Jim Drobka)
Map
Not a member? Join Here:
IMoDD’s Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom Lecture Series:
The Fall 2024 Unforgettable Dinnerware series began on September 11 with presentations on the second Wednesday of each month through December.
New Video Available:
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
KleinReid: Clay Confidential
part of the IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom lecture series
Presented by James Klein and David Reid
James Klein and David Reid invite you to join them as they discuss their work, their collections, and their 12 year collaboration with Eva Zeisel.
A pioneer in ceramic design and maker movements, KleinReid studio was founded by James Klein and David Reid in Brooklyn, NY, in 1993.
The influential workshop is renowned for its elegant shapes, translucent porcelain, artisanal glazes, design integrity and impeccable craftsmanship. All work is made “from scratch” — hand produced from proprietary porcelain and glazes.
KleinReid’s pieces have been extensively shown in gallery and museum exhibitions, are carried in design and home stores worldwide, and included in the collections of museums, collectors, celebrities and politicians, including presidents W. Bush and Obama. James and David have also designed collections for prestigious firms including Herman Miller, Dansk, West Elm and Room&Board and have been profiled in national and international shelter, fashion and design periodicals, and on television.
In 1999 the duo approached one of its heroes, design legend Eva Zeisel (then 93) with a proposal to collaborate. Their work together over the last twelve years of Ms. Zeisel’s life spawned a collection of over 20 designs, a treasured friendship, and helped bring her iconic work to a new generation.
Photos from IMoDD’s Members Preview Party on October 26, 2024
Thank you to everyone for your generous support during our relocation!
We have moved to New York but we still need your help.
We have exciting news! After twelve years of pop-up exhibits, IMoDD has moved to a permanent home in Kingston, New York. And we need your help! Please take a look at our GoFundMe campaign that will help support this move.
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design was established in 2012 with the knowledge that dining is a shared experience that can bridge together different communities. We support all those standing up against the historic inequality and institutionalized racism experienced in the Black community. In solidarity, IMoDD, its board, and its staff continue to amplify equity, diversity, and inclusion and call our community to action with us in this commitment to change.
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design was established in 2012 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We are a charitable 501(c)(3) organization that recently moved into its first bricks-and-mortar facility in Kingston, New York after holding pop-up exhibitions for several years. The International Museum of Dinnerware Design has a curated collection of over 9000 objects.
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design celebrates a significant aspect of our daily lives. The permanent collection features international dinnerware from ancient to futuristic times; created from ceramic, glass, plastic, metal, lacquer, fiber, paper, wood and more.
The collection and related special exhibitions reveal a refreshing approach – featuring masterpieces of the tabletop genre created by contemporary artists, as well as notable historic dinnerware by the leading designers for industry, juxtaposed with an uncommon focus on non-functional fine art that references dining and a bit of kitsch thrown in for good measure.
Here’s the only museum in the world devoted exclusively to dinnerware, making new memories for every visitor. The Kingston-based IMoDD brings enough dinnerware to each special exhibition to whet your appetite.
IMoDD, through its collections, exhibitions and educational programming, provides a window on our material culture, norms and attitudes towards food and dining. A delight for collectors, foodies, and visitors worldwide, IMoDD has been described as creating a dream museum one place setting at a time.