Pitcher Perfect

Among the many pint-sized treasures currently on view at R & Company in Tribeca as part of the design gallery’s Objects Biennial, is this spectacularly over the top pitcher from the Ardmore Studio in South Africa. Founded by Fée Halsted, who started making ceramics with the polio-stricken daughter of her family’s housekeeper in the late 1980s, Ardmore has over the years blossomed into a full-blown art and design studio and museum, dedicated to providing local women creative and economic independence. With its leopard and botanical motif, this piece (which is actually quite minimalist compared to other Ardmore objects) would make a fierce centerpiece on my dining table.

The Objects Biennial is on view at R & Company, 82 Franklin Street, through January 10, 2015. R-and-company.com