Events
Upcoming IMoDD Events
What’s Happening at IMoDD:
New Exhibition:
Ashtray
February 7 – June 29, 2026
Click here for more about ASHTRAY
Dining Grails
This ongoing exhibition includes 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.
Click here for more about Dining Grails
New IMoDD Videos:
March 11, 2026, 6:30 pm Eastern time
Ashtrays the Wright Way!
Every design tells a story: the ashtrays of Russel and Mary Wright.
Presented by Scott Vermillion and Annie Wright
part of the IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware lecture series
Russel and Mary Wright, the pioneering husband-and-wife design team behind the iconic American Modern dinnerware and the 1950 book Guide to Easier Living, transformed mid-century modern life with stylish, affordable, and highly functional housewares for everyday use. Beyond these famous works, they created many other products—including numerous distinctive ashtrays. Join the International Museum of Dinnerware Design for a fascinating conversation about the Wrights’ ashtray designs and related stories, featuring Annie Wright—Russel and Mary’s daughter—in discussion with collector and historian Scott Vermillion.
Scott Vermillion has enjoyed a 40+ year career in industrial and graphic design and holds a BS from the Illinois Institute of Technology Institute of Design. A lifelong collector and historian of American pottery, dinnerware and decorative arts, Mr. Vermillion has co-written several books on the subject. He is the Facebook administrator for multiple Art Deco and Mid-Century dinnerware groups and, for many years, served as co-editor of the Eva Zeisel Forum newsletter. He lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his husband, Scott.
Annie Wright, Russel and Mary Wright’s daughter, protects and promotes the legacy of her parents—two of the most prominent and successful designers of the 20th century. She is a co-founder of Manitoga: The Russel Wright Design Center in Garrison, New York. A nutritionist by profession, Annie co-wrote Russel Wright’s Menu Cookbook: A Guide to Easier Entertaining in 2003. She resides in New York State.
February 11, 2026 at 6:30 PM Eastern time
The Ubiquitous Ashtray
Presented by Margaret Carney
part of the IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware lecture series
The Ubiquitous Ashtray will focus on the latest curated exhibition at the International Museum of Dinnerware Design, Ashtray, which opens on February 7 and 8 in Kingston, New York. When the museum was established in 2012, it was only logical to have ashtrays in the collection of dinnerware. Carney, who grew up in a household where both parents were heavy smokers, knew the placement of ashtrays at both ends of the dining table. This presentation will share the hi-lights (pun intended) of the Ashtray exhibition, with all its peaks and valleys.
Margaret Carney is a ceramic historian with a Ph.D. in Asian art history. She’s held the role of curator and director at a number of museums for decades. Her knowledge about the topic of ashtrays comes largely from inhaling secondhand smoke. Those who know her, see her as a person obsessed with food, including marzipan and vegetarian reubens. Contrary to popular belief, she is not known as a gracious hostess or a party-goer. And perhaps she over-shares.
Dorothy Wilson Perkins Lecture at Alfred University presented by IMoDD Director Margaret Carney: Binns @ Alfred: n degrees of separation
September 16, 2025 4:30 p.m., Nevins Theater, Powell Campus Center Alfred University Campus, Alfred, New York.
More about Binns @ Alfred: n degrees of separation with link to video
Current Exhibitions:
Dining Grails
This exhibition includes 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.
Link to: Dining Grails exhibition page
Dorothy Wilson Perkins Lecture at Alfred University presented by IMoDD Director Margaret Carney
September 16, 2025 4:30 p.m., Nevins Theater, Powell Campus Center Alfred University Campus, Alfred, New York
Margaret Carney presented a lecture on the legacy of Charles Fergus Binns titled “Binns@Alfred: n degrees of separation.” The lecture is given in support of the exhibition “History: A Legacy in Motion – Alfred Ceramic Art 1900 – 2025” at the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum. The exhibition presents the extraordinarily diverse practices of artists who held (or continue to hold) full time teaching positions at the New York State College of Ceramics School of Art and Design since its creation by Binns in 1900.
The Alfred Ceramic Art Museum established the Dorothy Wilson Perkins Ceramic History Lecture Series in 1998, thanks to a generous endowment to the Museum by Dr. Lyle Perkins in memory of his wife, Dr. Dorothy Wilson Perkins. Since then the series has brought in exceptional speakers discussing a wide range of topics relating to ceramic history, culture and contemporary practice.
https://ceramicsmuseum.alfred.edu/perkins-lecture-series/carney/index.html
Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom Lecture Series
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design’s Unforgettable Dinnerware on-line lecture series includes tours of private collections and artist studios, allows one to meet directly with dinnerware designers and contemporary artists, and shares presentations by researchers and authors on major dinnerware manufacturers, including Mid-Century Modern dinnerware. These conversations are presented via Zoom. Our Fall 2025 IMoDD Zoom series began in September 2025 and continues on the second Wednesday of each month through December.
Did you miss any of our Unforgettable Dinnerware lectures? They are available to view on line! Videos of all of our Unforgettable Dinnerware lectures are available as YouTubes through our IMoDD-Videos Page.
Not an IMoDD member? Join Here:
Recent Events:
Mixology Event and Pop-Up Exhibition:
Barware
Mixology Event and Pop-Up Exhibition at the International Museum of Dinnerware Design, 524 Broadway in Kingston
Exhibition Open: May 22 – June 1, 2025
Opening Event: Thursday, May 22 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm
IMoDD’s Barware exhibition includes international barware in the Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern eras (late 1920s-1960s+) from the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Portugal, and France and American made glass, chrome, wood, rattan, and plastic cocktail implements and related barware.
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design
Members Preview Party
524 Broadway, Kingston, NY
Saturday, October 26, 2024, 4:30 to 7:30 pm.
IMoDD invited museum members and honored guests to a celebration to preview our inaugural exhibitions in advance of the formal opening of the museum on November 2.
