Spin Ceramics’ new showroom in New York City. © Rita Catinella Orrell

Last week I got a tour of the New York City showroom for Spin Ceramics, the Chinese tabletop brand that has built up a cult following around the world since its founding in 2002. Opened since June at 13 Crosby Street, the shop is Spin Ceramics’ first store outside of Asia. The brand works with a collective of eight independent designers to create modern, quirky pieces that are all stamped with the designers individual “chop” identification mark.

Based in the Spin’s Shanghai design studio, the designers come up with concepts for plates, chopstick rests, cups, bowls, and other pieces through methods including drawing, digital modeling, throwing on a pottery wheel, or hand molding clay. Although the pieces are all handmade, Managing Partner Clay Cunningham says that the company produces about 250,000 items a year. Prices range from $25 for a napkin ring to $3200 for a large vase. Cunningham, a former banker, fell in love with the products while living in Asia and believes the company will continue to gain fans now that it has a U.S. presence. “Many people don’t realize there is a lot of great Chinese design.”

Spin Ceramics’ new showroom in New York City. © Rita Catinella Orrell

Spin Ceramic managing partner Clay Cunningham in the New York City showroom. © Rita Catinella Orrell

© Rita Catinella Orrell

Colorful row of unglazed dishes. © Rita Catinella Orrell

Chopstick rests in unusual shapes like a bone and lobster claw. © Rita Catinella Orrell

These dishes feature painted creatures that correspond to a raised image in the center. The grasshopper desires a leaf. © Rita Catinella Orrell

A row of slender vases in a darkening salmon hue. © Rita Catinella Orrell

An unusually wide and low vase uses a cylinder of sharp prongs to support thick stalks. © Rita Catinella Orrell

A bamboo wisk for mixing tea. ©Rita Catinella Orrell

The Twelve Faces Vase Set. Image courtesy Spin Ceramics.