For 25 years, starting in 1995, tableware designer Daniel Levy’s creative home was a studio on 29th Street in New York City, in what once was the bustling Fur District.
His bespoke porcelain dinnerware with hand-brushed gold or platinum rims was sought after by brides and sophisticates and carried by Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Henri Bendel, Takashimaya and other retailers. But deep into his success, Levy decided to step away from retail and work directly with architects and interior designers. In one more story twist, he received notice in 2020 that the historic building housing his studio was set to be demolished.
“I felt like I had climbed a mountain and couldn’t go any farther,” he says. “I was the choreographer to five or six people working in my studio. I wanted to do it myself. I made a shift.”
He moved upstate to his weekend place in the Catskills. Now, while jazz music plays, Levy alone does the work. He makes the batches of clay, slip and glaze, using his proprietary formulas; shapes and glazes the porcelain; moves it in and out of the kilns; and adds a final touch of 22k gold or more precious platinum, an indulgence so ethereal it looks as if it could have been done by a flock of winged fairies wielding tiny brushes under the moonlight. It might take Levy two to three months to produce a full dinnerware service.
What influences Levy? “My eyes are always open when I’m walking in nature,” he says. “I wandered beaches in the Caribbean, and I found pottery shards. On a little island I discovered off the coast of Grenada, I found remnants from indigenous tribes. Porcelain is hard as nails. It is first cousin to glass. It lasts.”
“I ship all over the world now,” he says. “It’s white-glove shipping. Someone comes in and packs it and treats it like art, which it is,” he says.
Care tip: Years back, Daniel Levy asked the china buyer at Tiffany & Co. if gold and platinum accented pieces should be hand-washed or put in the dishwasher. She said scouring by hand could rub through the trims and recommended the dishwasher. “But never with a powdered detergent,” Levy remembers. “That would be like sandblasting.”
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