Meet Elizabeth Benotti, the Artist Behind Our Latest Handmade Ceramics Drop

All Fired Up is our Shop’s monthly handmade ceramics drop, curated by Food52, and all from small and local makers. This month, we’re featuring Maine-based Elizabeth Benotti Ceramics for her striking striped and window-paned pieces.

The only class Elizabeth Benotti remembers truly loving in high school was art. But it wasn’t until she took a pottery class on a whim that everything clicked. Now, more than a decade later, she’s running her own handmade ceramics brand and preparing to open her biggest studio yet.

For now, she’s working from home in Eliot, Maine, tucked among the trees while she waits for the new space to open. She’s no stranger to building from scratch—she essentially started her business in a garage, bouncing between houses and states, always managing to find a kiln along the way. Now, she’s settled in what she calls her “happy place” by the ocean.

It’s not the first time she’s found inspiration near the water. After earning her BFA from the University of Colorado, Boulder, she completed a residency at Mendocino Art Center in California—a program she never thought she’d get into. “That exposed me to people actually doing the thing that they love,” she said. It was also the first time she ever sold her work. Soon after, she launched the first Etsy shop, and things took off. “I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I figured it out.”

For this month’s All Fired Up ceramics drop, we collaborated with Elizabeth on an exclusive collection featuring kelp-colored creamers, grid-patterned vases, and so much more. To celebrate the launch, we caught up with the artist to learn more about the collection and her journey.

How did you first get into art & ceramics?

I’ve always been into art. As a kid, arts and crafts were my favorite thing, and in high school, it was the only subject I really excelled in. I wasn’t book smart—I didn’t do great in school—so art just felt natural to me.

We had a graphic arts class that I loved, so when I went to college, I initially chose that as my major. I ended up at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and at first, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to study. Since I already had some art credits, I decided to take a few more art classes.

I took a pottery class and a photography class at the same time, and I just found myself wanting to spend all my time in the pottery studio. So I kept taking more ceramics classes and eventually decided to pursue my BFA in ceramics.

What was it that initially drew you to ceramics? You took that photography class, but something really clicked with ceramics—do you remember what that was?

Working with my hands, building something tangible, felt more natural to me. I love the tactile nature of it, and I still do. I love cooking, I love gardening and I think there’s a connection between pottery and those things.

When I was in school, the program was very conceptual. We were encouraged to make sculptural, installation pieces and discouraged from making functional work. But I wanted to create things people could use—objects that had a purpose beyond just being displayed.

Can you share a bit more about the All Fired Up collection & the inspiration behind it?

I get really excited about colors and shapes. The pieces we chose for this collection all share a cohesive color story and finish, but they explore different forms. I like playing with inverse lines—lines coming in and out—as well as drawing lines on the surface. When you wrap a line around a three-dimensional object, you never quite know where it will end up, which I find really interesting.

I’m not someone who sketches or doodles on paper, but when I make ceramics, I feel like I have to add something to the surface. Almost everything I create has either a drawn element or some kind of texture—and sometimes both.

There’s also a whole line of work I do using colored clay. It has a raw, matte, organic feel to it, and some pieces in this collection incorporate that.

How has your style evolved over the years?

You’re always kind of challenging yourself to create. You want to enhance what you’ve been making, but you also want to change it, because you get kind of tired of it.

Some of it, too, is circumstantial. When I moved, I didn’t bring my slip-casting equipment, so a lot of my newer work is slab-built. That changes what I can create, but it also informs the design. I love problem-solving—figuring out what I can make with the tools and materials I have available.

You’ve worked in studios in both California & Maine. Is there something about coastal areas that draws you in & how does it influence your work?

I grew up going to the beach, and while I didn’t necessarily miss it when I was in Colorado, moving to California afterward was amazing. During my residency in Mendocino, I had this little corner studio overlooking the ocean. You could hear the waves crashing—it was magical.

I’m in my happy place now. When you feel content and excited about where you are in life, it’s easier to feel that way about what you’re making in the studio.

How did you take that leap to opening an online shop?

I think I opened my Etsy shop at the end of 2008. When I moved back to Boulder, I was living with a friend from college who also did ceramics. She had a kiln, so we set up a little studio, but we both had full-time jobs doing other things.

I didn’t have a clear vision of where it was going at first—I just kept doing it. I thought, How do I make money doing art? If you really want to, you figure it out. So I opened the Etsy shop, and eventually, I ended up back in Massachusetts with my parents. That’s when I decided, I’m going to figure out this clay thing. I set up a little studio in their basement and started selling at the SoWa market in Boston. My sister and I shared a tent, which made it feel a little less daunting.

How did people discover your work in the beginning?

It was a mix of things. I had the Etsy shop, and it just snowballed from there. Stores started reaching out, asking to carry my work. Press and magazines found me—it was crazy, but also really exciting. I didn’t fully know what I was doing, but I figured it out as I went.