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Writer's pictureClayArts Vegas

Made in Vegas: Dedicated local craftspeople are keeping the tradition of their trades alive.

Las Vegas Weekly Thu, Nov 14, 2024 (2 a.m.)By Amber Sampson


Clay Arts Vegas keeps local restaurants in handcrafted tableware




Photo: Steve Marcus

                        

Clay Arts Vegas’ Esther’s Kitchen collection

“Made at Clay Arts Vegas” isn’t an imprint you’d expect to find engraved on the bottom of the dishes at Esther’s Kitchen, but the pottery studio has been in the business of supporting local restaurants and bars with handcrafted server ware for years. 

“When James [Trees] was planning the opening of Esther’s Kitchen, he reached out to the community and said, ‘I’m looking for someone: I want locally-made plates that complement the food that I’m making.’ Lots of folks pointed him in our direction, and we’re kind of crazy foodies as well,” says Peter Jakubowski, co-owner of Clay Arts Vegas. “We met with James, and next thing you know, we were making hundreds and hundreds and hundreds [of plates].”





                        

Co-owners Peter Jakubowski, left, and Thomas Bumblauskas

Clay Arts Vegas already had some experience doing this with Backwards Distilling Company in Wyoming. But working with the wildly popular Esther’s Kitchen was another beast entirely. Jakubowski made all the bowls and plates, and Clay Arts Vegas co-owner Thomas Bumblauskasglazed them and also created Esther’s water pitchers.

“We would close the studio at nine o’clock at night and then glaze until one o’clock in the morning, and then start up again [a few hours later],” Bumblauskas says. “It was a learning experience and insane and fun.”

On top of workshops, classes, managing the 200 students they currently have and showing pieces in galleries, Clay Arts Vegas has also created products for Ada’s Food + Wine, CC Speakeasy, Main St. Provisions and the former Valencian Gold.





                        

A man works at a potter’s wheel during independent studio time at Clay Arts Vegas.

Bumblauskas and Jakubowski both hail from theater backgrounds but their love for ceramics will always run deep. “My entire life has been as a maker,” Bumblauskas says. “As a theater kid growing up, I was always making props or building a set. Coming into clay … after a professional life designing for theater and film, suddenly I got to really be in control of the whole product.”

“For me, a lot of it ties into the historic nature of it … and the fact that we know so much about past cultures solely from their ceramics,” Jakubowski says. “Fabric and paintings wear away just from being exposed to the environment, but something that we make out of clay today will still be on this planet thousands of years from now, and it’ll still be clay. We still do processes that are exactly the same that someone did 4,000 years ago.”

CLAY ARTS VEGAS 1353 Arville St., 702-375-4147, clayartsvegas.com. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday, noon-3 p.m.


Amber Sampson

Amber Sampson is a Staff Writer for Las Vegas Weekly. She got her start in journalism as an intern at Vegas Seven but joined the editorial team within just a few months. Amber spent three years as a web editor and writer there, covering everything from male revues to virtual reality. She later took her skills to the casino-gaming industry, where she served as a storyteller and communications specialist for Caesars Entertainment, highlighting the stories of casino workers at more than 50 properties countrywide. When she isn’t working, she’s sipping craft beers, watching esports on Twitch and pretending to like camping.

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