New Work: London Design Festival

As many of you likely know, Anthropologie hopped the pond a while ago with several UK stores and a European online shop. My work has been well received abroad and I have to admit, I have had my eye on having a solo exhibition in the Anthropologie King's Road shop in London ever since I watched my first "Man Shops Globe" episode. The Sundace Channel program followed Keith Johnson, art and object buyer for Anthropologie all over the globe as he purchased items to make the Anthropologie stores so gorgeous. There was one episode in-particular where Keith helped curate a show in the King's Road Gallery.

Well, a few years later its my turn! My solo is happening during the famous London Design Festival, to add a cherry to the sundae treat--Polly Leonard the editor and founder of possibly my favorite magazine will be interviewing me in the gallery about the work from 6-8pm on Tuesday September 17th. I am one very excited lady!

I wanted to share the work with you--its a small gallery so there are 5 pieces:

Here is the press release:

ANTHROPOLOGIE PRESENTS
MOLLY HATCH FOR LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 2013
Anthropologie is delighted to announce that to celebrate London Design Festival 2013, we will be hosting an inspirational exhibition by the celebrated international artist Molly Hatch.
Art and creativity are at the heart of the Anthropologie ethos, meaning that London Design Festival is always an important and exciting time of year for our customers and staff, and we are proud to be bringing work by Molly to London to coincide with LDF.
At our King’s Road Gallery, the artist-designer and Massachusetts resident, Molly Hatch, will be presenting a collection of her celebrated ‘plate paintings’. Entitled Render, the work will take inspiration from the vintage textiles and ceramic archives Molly has been unearthing in the collections of the V&A.
Molly will discuss her influences and artistic career in an interview with Polly Leonard, of Selvedge magazine, in our King’s Road store on Tuesday, 17th September from 6 – 8 p.m.

STATEMENT:

MOLLY HATCH - RENDER
In an effort to claim the functional surface as a painting surface, RENDER is a new collection of plate
paintings and vases made sourcing the textile and ceramic collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
In the translation and re-working of historic fabric patterns to the ceramic surface of a group of plates, Render becomes an exploration of the relationship between the historic and the contemporary with artworks crossing over categories of decorative art, design and fine art. Through shift in scale, color and context, the compositions of plates both abstract and highlight aspects of the textile patterns, encouraging a new dialogue in pattern.
Fascinated by how we live with objects, how and why we acquire objects and what happens to them throughout history, I see this exhibition as a reflection of the life of surface pattern through the decorative art continuum. 

Molly Hatch in the New York Times!

This past Sunday, June 2nd, a piece of mine was included in "Reinventions on a Theme: Dinner Table Classics" by Marianne Rohlrich.

Click HERE to read more at the NYT Sunday Styles section!

New Glassware at Anthropologie

Working with new materials in partnership with Anthropologie has proven to be exciting, to say the least. It turns out--despite my years of training and education in ceramics, that I make a darn good juice glass!

The most popular items I have designed for Anthropologie have been my juice glasses. So successful, that they have just added 3 new designs to the menagerie juice glass collection--and they are finally available!

Click HERE to buy some--or to see them online. (The swimmer is my favorite!).

Tea Social: Molly Hatch Event at Cambridge Anthropologie

This past Saturday I drove east to Cambridge with Emily and Oliver Rich of Tea Guys so we could all participate in a Tea Social hosted by the Harvard Sq Anthropologie Store.

Cambridge Anthropologie

We arrived with plenty of time to set up our teas for tasting as well as arrange for a comfy spot for the tea readings...the store had already been laid out nicely for us!

Tea Reading Nook

All 5 Flavors of Tea Guys Teas that are available for purchase were provided for tasting

Each person who got a reading received a lovely surprise gift from the store with a hand-drawn tag! GORGEOUS.

There were yummy sweets provided (loved the polka dot doilies!)

The tea readings were POPULAR! As you can see there was a long wait just to sit with me--amazing! It might have had something to do with the surprise giveaway...

Reading Tea Leaves, SUCH a line!

Curated Tree in Anthropologie Magazine

I am excited about being included in today's CURATED TREE Anthropologie online Magazine article that was just published on their site. I was asked to select a group of ornaments from their selection available in stores and online that would go well together. In addition to inviting me to curate a tree, Anthropologie also asked two amazing bloggers to curate trees: Jordan Ferney of OH HAPPY DAY and Shauna Alterio of SOMETHING'S HIDING IN HERE

Click HERE to see my tree as well as Jordan and Shauna's curated trees at Anthropologie

KEEP READING FOR FULL ARTICLE!

The ornaments I selected for my CURATED TREE

Here is the full interview they did for the article (only a small selection was published):

A: What would you name your tree based on your ornament selection?

MH: Land and Sea

A: Can you talk a bit about each ornament you chose. What does each add to your curated tree?

MH: I chose each of the ornaments for various reasons—mainly I chose keeping my “land and sea” theme in mind. I am always most drawn to whites and metallic for trees because they reflect the light so well and the whites are such a lovely contrast to the green of the tree. The animals ground the “land and sea” theme—as well as the boat, house and bicycle—I couldn’t help but include the bicycle, my husband is an avid cyclist who commutes everyday on his bicycle. Of course, I included the collection of porcelain animals of my own design, I cant wait to see those on my own tree this year! I included the glass and mirrored balls because they reflect light so well—and the holiday is very much about celebrating light for me. The felt garland adds a nice texture—as do the snowflakes. Last but not least, you have to have lights! I always choose white or clear lights, a tradition I inherited.

my "land and sea" ornament collection available at Anthropologie

A: How many of each style ornament do you recommend buying to achieve the desired look?

MH: The animals and objects you could purchase 2-3 of each for a full tree. The balls I would purchase more—maybe 4-6 of each. The snowflakes would do with at least one if not 2 boxes. I would purchase enough garland to cove the tree circumference about 4 times, so about 6 lengths would probably do it. I would do the same with the lights—6 or so lengths. Oh—and you only need one tree topper!

A:  Tell us a bit about the tree you had growing up, and your tree today. What's the same? What has changed?

MH: My tree growing up is much like my tree today. We grew up cutting our own tree each year. My whole family would suit up and hike into the woods near our home to look for a tree that had recently fallen and was still green or we would look specifically for a long-needled white pine. White Pine are a lighter green and are more unusual looking than the traditional Balsam Pine. We always had to wait until Christmas Eve to cut the tree and the wait was torture! It also meant no presents went under the tree until Christmas Eve, so after attending a candlelight service we would come home to a tree all lit up and presents were there for the first time. We always were allowed to open one gift Christmas Eve—a great tradition we have passed onto our own daughter!

A photo of my cousin juggling in front of my grandmother's tree, early 1980's

My uncle Josh and cousin Noah (still juggling!) in front of my grandmother's christmas tree early 1980's

A: Any tree no-no's?

MH: For me, adding colored lights is a no-no. It is too distracting from the rest of the loveliness of the ornaments you just put onto the tree. Also, the other no-no in our family is a fake tree. You can find the most scraggly looking real tree and it still adds so much to a holiday—from the smell of the needles to the glow of the green.

A:  What do you listen to while decorating?

MH: We typically listen to classical music while decorating our tree. The go-to album has always been Handel’s Messiah. As a little girl, I always asked to play Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet playing—a favorite still.

 A: What are you eating or drinking when you are decorating the tree?

MH: My aunt Kaela would always make fresh Egg Nogg with Bourbon for tree trimming on Christmas Eve and being the traditionalists we are, we still make it fresh with eggs from our neighbor’s chickens. Really, nothing quite compares. Our family also has a tradition of snacking on pistachios during the holidays—something about cocktails and family need the cracking of nuts and a raging fire in the woodstove. When I am not drinking Egg Nogg, I am usually sipping tea of some variety, my favorite tea company is Tea Guys—their teas are amazing and they are neighbors, so its always easy to get more!

Latest Product:Fortune Telling Teacup

I like a good challenge. 

About a year and a half ago, I pitched making my own version of a fortune telling teacup to Anthropologie. This product design project represented a huge leap for me because what I proposed required me to move beyond ceramics as a design medium: I had to design the cup and saucer in addition to packaging.

Now, the fortune telling teacup had to have instructions; how else would anyone know how to read the leaves? I thought that using the format of a traditional tarot card would serve as a fun and magical device for the directions. After the clumps of tea wind up in the bottom of the cup, you consult your cards. The cards help to define the symbols on the cup and give meaning to your reading. Obviously, there’s some room for interpretation!

It’s always been a secret dream of mine with my roots as a studio potter to design tea packaging. So, when my teacup design was put into production, I approached Anthropologie about offering tea as a product to sell alongside the teacup. I know that if I were to purchase the cup, I would want loose-leaf tea to go with it. Delighted by the idea, the folks at Anthropologie agreed.

I definitely pitched the loose-leaf tea idea to Anthropologie with my favorite local tea company Tea Guys in mind for the project (here in Western Massachusetts’ Pioneer Valley) When I approached Tea Guys about designing labels for five of their flavors they were more than happy to oblige.

I set about quickly to design labels. Initially, Anthropologie wanted a small order from Tea Guys. Over the next few months the order grew and grew—until it became one of the largest orders that Tea Guys had ever had to fill.

Fill it they did, though. You can find yourself a fortune telling teacup and tea at Anthropologie. I can’t wait to hear about what your future holds!