St. Paul, Minnesota based Fringe and Fettle Ceramics is a one-woman ceramics studio focused on creating pieces that are both beautiful and functional. Joanna Buyert, the potter behind Fringe and Fettle says that her thinking behind creating a piece is not to create something that she thinks someone else will like, but to create something that she loves. That love is reflected in her pieces. After working in a pottery shop making pots for other people, Joanna decided to strike out on her own and make the pieces that she wanted to make, and we’re glad she did.
Describing Fringe and Fettle pieces as utilitarian or simple doesn’t seem to do them justice. They are pieces that exude a sense of thoughtfulness and care that can only come when a person loves what they are producing as much as Joanna Buyert cares about her pieces. A bowl can be just a bowl, or can be a treasured part of a home and of a family, a piece of art that functions as well as it looks. Fringe and Fettle is in the business of creating the latter. Joanna sums up her work saying, “I think my pieces have a gentleness to them, a subtleness that is very inviting. I love the movement that goes into making a pot, the spinning of the wheel, the push and pull of the clay. My pots are simple and clean, a frozen moment captured in my delicate white porcelain shapes.”
Handmade goods reflect the people who make them, and in this case, the pieces coming out of Fringe and Fettle reflect the love that Joanna Buyert has for each of her pieces as well as her craft in general. Fringe and Fettle Ceramics pairs beauty and functionality in a way we truly admire.