Schoolhouse Just Dropped Lighting With Our Go-To Maker of Mugs and Bowls
See the brand in a whole new light.
Updated Mar 19, 2024 2:18 PM
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Two perennial Domino favorites, Schoolhouse and East Fork Pottery, are a natural duo. Both brands are committed to preserving American manufacturing and craft, and each has admired the other from afar for years. A collaboration was only a matter of time, and this past year proved to be just right: The Schoolhouse x East Fork Lighting collection debuts today.
“Last summer, we visited the East Fork factory and were beyond inspired by the incredible library of glazes and the production of all the ceramic silhouettes,” says Melissa Miller, Schoolhouse’s senior vice president of merchandising. “By the end of the visit, we had packed up a box of bowls and dishes of multiple sizes and colors, shipped them back to the Schoolhouse factory, and [our] design team got started.”
The new ceramic collection comprises two flush mount sizes, a sconce, and two pendant sizes, the latter of which is a first for Schoolhouse (this is also the first time East Fork has produced readily available lighting). According to Katie Elliot, Schoolhouse’s vice president of design, they wanted to reimagine existing molds from East Fork to create lighting and were inspired by the idea of layering different sizes and colors—just like you would with plates and platters when setting a table.
If you’re thinking that the fixtures sort of look like bowls, then you’d be spot on: The silhouettes stemmed from East Fork’s Potter’s Bowl series. “It’s a simple, tall bowl with a flat bottom and a gentle curving sidewall that took a long time to perfect,” Alex Matisse, the brand’s CEO, explains. “It has the perfect balance between containment and openness.” Ideal for inviting lighting, in our opinion.
Originally, the Schoolhouse team had kitchens in mind with the designs and imagined the flush mounts over farmhouse sinks and the pendants over islands. As the planning process took hold, however, Miller says they leaned into colors (think: eggshell, taupe, and a deep clay red) that will work well in living and dining rooms, too.
When asked what other products from the Schoolhouse catalog might complement the collaboration, Miller name-checked the Atwood line, which she says “is a nice pair and material mix with the East Fork collaboration.” Who knew a chunky soup bowl could make for such modern lighting?
