Hand-glazed ceramics reward a slightly different kind of care than the dishwasher-safe pieces they're standing in for. None of it is complicated, but skipping it is the fastest way to dull a finish that's meant to get better with age, not worse — and unlike most care instructions that come folded inside a box and never read again, this one is short enough to actually remember.
Washing and Drying
Wash by hand, in lukewarm water, with a soft cloth rather than anything abrasive — the mirror inlay and raised motifs on pieces like Twin Flames and Butterfly Effect are the first place a scouring pad will show damage. Hot water is worth avoiding too, not because it damages the glaze directly, but because rapid temperature changes are what stress a hand-fired finish over years of repeated use. Lukewarm, every time, is the safer habit.
Dry immediately rather than air-drying, especially around any metal or mirrored detail. Air-drying works fine for most dishware, but the mirror fragments set into our pieces sit in tiny recessed pockets that hold moisture longer than the surrounding wood or ceramic, and standing water in those pockets is what eventually clouds the mirror's edge. A soft cloth, immediately after washing, takes care of this in under a minute.
Storing, Using, and Repairing
Store pieces with a soft layer between them if they're stacked, and keep them out of direct, sustained sunlight if you can — glaze doesn't fade quickly, but it does fade eventually, particularly the warmer tones in our earlier collections. A felt or cotton layer between stacked plates costs almost nothing and prevents the kind of fine surface scratching that only becomes visible once you tilt a piece toward a lamp and wonder when that happened.
Beyond that, use them. A piece that's handled often develops a softness to its finish that a piece left in a cabinet never will — the same way a well-used wooden spoon looks different from one that's sat in a drawer for a decade. We hear from customers occasionally who feel guilty using a piece daily rather than saving it for special occasions. Please don't. These were made to be lived with, not preserved behind glass.
If a piece does chip or a mirror fragment comes loose over the years — and after enough time, occasionally one will — this is repairable, and we'd rather you reach out to us than replace the piece outright. A loose mirror fragment can usually be re-set with the same natural adhesive used originally, and small chips in the wood can often be filled and re-finished so the repair is barely visible. We're building out a proper restoration service for exactly this, but in the meantime, a message to our care team gets the same result.
A Few Things to Avoid
- Never the dishwasher, even on a gentle cycle.
- No commercial wood polish — the silicones build up in carved recesses.
- Keep citrus and vinegar-based cleaning sprays away from the finish.
- Avoid prolonged, direct sunlight over the years.
Treat the five minutes of care the same way you'd treat the ritual the piece was designed for in the first place: unhurried, and worth doing properly. It's a small, recurring act of attention, not unlike the mornings and thresholds these pieces are meant to sit inside of — and over years, that attention is exactly what separates a piece that ages well from one that just gets old.
