This May at WANTED, a new design brand will challenge ceramic conventions with the launch of Winkle Ceramic Design. The St. Louis, MO based studio merges contemporary form with personal history. The brand name, “Winkle” comes from founder Daniel Shapiro’s great-great-grandfather’s Winkle Terracotta Company, which was also a slipcast ceramics manufacturer based in St. Louis.
Winkle is also a shift in Shapiro’s creative practice, which has until now focused on expressive, sculptural forms. “I have two distinct parts of my personality,” he says. “One side is messy and chaotic, my personal work showcases this. But there’s another side of me that loves order, even spacing, parallel lines, and grids. Winkle gives that structured side of my mind a place to live.”
The brand’s debut collection “Squared” is a building-block system of cubic forms that brings geometric precision to a medium traditionally dominated by cylindrical shapes and organic forms. Winkle Ceramic Design reinterprets the slipcasting techniques used by its namesake predecessor with a contemporary approach that integrates modern technology like 3D design and printing with the traditional craft of mold making and marbled slip-casting. While honoring this heritage, the brand establishes a distinctly contemporary identity through clean lines, mathematical precision, and modular functionality.
The “Squared” collection features lighting, mirrors, and furniture pieces built from a comprehensive system of cubic forms that can be configured in virtually endless variations. This innovative approach combines the production efficiency of slipcasting with the creative freedom typically associated with handbuilding.
One day playing with his son, Daniel was inspired by the act of stacking, arranging, and playing with building blocks. Taking inspiration from these familiar forms, this collection explores how simple cubic forms create infinite variations. Each piece moves from 3D modeling to 3D-printed prototypes to handmade plaster molds, finished with distinctive marbling and limewash techniques rarely seen in contemporary ceramics.
Winkle’s philosophy views everyday objects as “the lens through which our memories are recorded,” bringing thoughtful design to functional pieces that make daily life more special and memorable.
Winkle Ceramic Design will officially launch at ICFF 2025, May 18-20 in New York City.
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