Perch was started in 2004 in Brooklyn, NY.  After years of only working in clay I have started revisiting materials - brass, concrete and wood and getting much more experimental with my ceramics in the process. New functions too - many here are non-functional, decorative,  just objects...but I hope convey the same feelings as my previous work. 

  

As an industrial designer by training, I fight the urge to plan these objects too much, I'm really trying to keep spontaneity present so the objects speak of their concepts and process. But in fact, each starts with a sketch model, glaze trials, technical drawing and probably numerous failed attempts.   

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Besides running my business from multiple studios in Red Hook, my 19 years in Brooklyn included wonderful jobs at West Elm and with David Weeks. The creative energy of that place has migrated north and I'm happy to be reinvigorating Perch upstate in the beautiful Hudson Valley. 

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My biggest fulfillment right now is teaching - in Product Design at Parsons and locally, at the Kingston Ceramics Studio and my new Backyard Clay Workshops in Hurley. 

 

Amy Adams Ratliff, June, 2022