The Tortoise Shell Collection was my favorite assortment, filled with vases, bowls and cups with the pairing of matte Yves Klein-blue and lustrous tortoise on top. The idea came from the pattern on a pair of the artist's favorite sunglasses.

The bright Yves Klein-blue and tortoise ceramic vases and bowls of Workaday Handmade stopped me in my tracks at the NY Now Gift Show.  The simple lines and clean, graphic sensibility of ceramics artist Forrest Lewinger's work gives it a sophistication that really sets it apart. Growing up, Lewinger gravitated towards the artistic medium and came to it because his friend's dad was a ceramics professor. Providing access to a kiln, this opportunity honed his artistic ability, one that led him to begin Workaday Handmade year later in 2011. The artist, who attended The California College of Art and is based in Williamsburg, began to amass a large assortment of pots he would create during his lunch hour, while working for a well-known New York- based ceramics studio. When friends started asking to buy his hand-thrown cups and pots, mostly created in blue and white, he obliged. Creating functional ceramics, his whisper thin pieces are compelling on their own or en masse. His logo, an eye, is carved into the bottom of all of his pieces. He shared with me, " The eye really struck me as a great graphic. It's essentially made up of three lines and it is such an open symbol. For me, I see it as a type of container. It looks like a vessel holding an object, and that is what the eye does for us. It's a vessel for the visual world."  He is now taking things to the next level, seeking wider distribution, and I think you will agree, there is something wonderful about his serene, striking pieces. 

A square geometric patterned earthenware bowl with a cream body and blue detailing

The Maurice Bowl had linear, positive and negative spaces, covering its surface

Interlocking swirls of blue on a white bodied bowl, the Ribbon Bowl

Tiny stippled dots cover the entire surface area of the Confetti Bowl, giving it a distinct charm

Covered in tiny eyes, a signature element of Forrest's work, the Seeing Eye Bowl has a mesmerizing spiral pattern inside and out

The power of form and color come into play with the sold matte Yves Klein blue glazed bulbous vase

Simple forms in saturated colors can do so much. Take this cobalt cup, for example. Holding a single type of flower, the impact can impart bold color with maximum impact.