Alere Modern: Artists: Whitney Smith

I found Whitney Smith's work a few years ago and fell in love. Her pottery has an updated vintage feel -- her pieces are the kind of thing you might see in your mother's or grandmother's kitchen and absolutely covet. Or, of course, the kind of thing that you might buy for your very own kitchen, and treasure. Her work is simple, clean, and very approachable. Beautiful to look at when not in use, and wonderfully functional as well.

The first piece of her work that I bought was a bowl for my mother, and of course now I covet it. Since that initial purchase I have discovered some of Whitney's other work, and the more I find, the more difficult I find it to choose a favorite for my very own home (if only the Alere Modern Gift Registry had been around when I got married, I could have had it all!). I think my all time favorite is probably her Lotus Nesting Bowls, which come in green and white, in a set of five or eight. These bowls really do take on a very floral shape when they are nested together.


Lotus Nesting Bowls (5)

But then there is the Bird Cupcake Stand, and it comes in all sorts of fantastic colors like pink, yellow, and robin's egg blue. That's not what makes this piece so irresistible, though. What makes me love this piece so, so much is that it's really a modern update on a cake stand, which is a very classic and traditional serving piece. Of all the pieces in my grandmothers kitchen that I would covet, a cake stand probably wasn't one of them. But a cupcake stand - this cupcake stand - now that is another story!