All Fired Up is our Shop’s monthly handmade ceramics drop, curated by Food52 and made by small and local makers. This month, we’re featuring Chicago-based artist Emily Christopherson of EMRIS studio.
For a lot of artists, the dream is that someone—maybe a professor or a curator—spots their work and says, “You’ve got it.” Realistically, that rarely happens. But for Emily Christopherson, it kind of did.
“I had professors who would joke, ‘You’re in the arts school, right?’” she told me. At the time, she laughed it off. But eventually, their confidence helped push her to transfer from the University of Minnesota to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and fully commit to ceramics.
“I knew I really liked it,” she said. “But it didn’t feel like a real option—I had kind of written it off.”
Before making ceramics her full-time job, Emily managed a studio part-time, taught at schools, and sold at markets around Chicago. You can usually spot her by the vibe of her booth—sun-soaked, calm, and carefully arranged. Her work has the same energy: thoughtful, grounded, and deeply tactile.
Her pieces are soft-edged but stone-like. You want to reach out and touch them. Colors stay warm and earthy—think terracotta and stone gray. It’s the kind of collection that just works, no matter what else is on your table. And yes, she knows the magic of a plate-bowl hybrid. She’s also partial to a pinch bowl—“there’s kind of a teeny bowl crew out in the world,” she laughed.
Even the name of her studio has a story. EMRIS is a mash-up of her and her dad’s names, created during a childhood memory digging out a little “lake” at the beach.
“It just felt fitting for someone still kind of digging around in mud and sand,” she said with a smile. And it’s an ode to her parents, who have always encouraged her to follow her creative instincts. “They’ve always been supportive of me pursuing what I’m passionate about.”
This month, we’re lucky to carry some of Emily’s most beloved pieces in our Shop, from textured pinch bowls to a new wavy serving platter inspired by a recent trip to Maine. “That one came from exploring tide pools and looking at how rocks and shells get softened by the water,” she said. “A lot of people mistake my work for stone or concrete at first because I leave the exterior unglazed.”
Her All Fired Up collection pulls from her core lineup: “I picked pieces people always gravitate toward,” she said. That includes the teeny bowls, spreaders, and stoneware with subtle leather touches—each one handmade in her Chicago studio (and yes, dishwasher safe).
Emily describes ceramics as a “slow burn.” She’s been throwing for fifteen years, selling for six, and officially went full-time about two years ago. And now, things are taking off.
We caught up to chat more about her path to ceramics and the inspiration behind her new collection.
How did you first get into ceramics?
I’ve always liked working with my hands—and with clay specifically. When I was younger, my mom and I would sit at the kitchen table with Sculpey and make little creatures or coil pots. Then in high school, I was lucky enough to get into a ceramics class my freshman year, and I knew I wanted to try it.
What really kept me there, though, was the community. I’m a bit more introverted, so it was nice to be around people but also have something to focus on. I made some of my closest friends through ceramics.
Did you end up studying it throughout college?
I did. I started at the University of Minnesota unsure of what I wanted to do. The uncertainty of an artist’s career path scared me—there’s no obvious next step. But I kept having teachers and professors who encouraged me, who had more confidence in me than I did. Eventually, I transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and spent most of my time in the ceramics department.
Was there someone who really pushed you toward making that leap?
During my first semester at Minnesota, one professor kept nudging me. I showed up with my old high school ceramic tools and he’d say, “Oh, you’re in the arts program, right?” He didn’t know me well, but the fact that he saw potential in me made me think—maybe this is something I could do.
Before you were in art school, was ceramics on your radar as a career path?
Not really, at first. I knew I liked it, but I was nervous about what that might look like. It felt like most artists forged different paths, whereas with other jobs there was a clear track. That lack of clarity made it hard to picture it as something stable.
In the two years since going full-time with EMRIS, what’s been the most rewarding part?
Having more freedom—choosing how I spend my time, what projects to take on. Even on hard days, I feel really lucky to have a studio and work that brings me comfort. Before it was a job, it was my escape. Now, I still get to have that—just with a little more clay and a lot more spreadsheets.
What inspired your collection for All Fired Up?
We pulled from my existing collection and made some fun sets. Like the teeny bowls in different colors and clay bodies, or the spreaders (like small cheese and butter knives). These are things people tend to really love, so it felt like a great time to share them more broadly.
Do you have a thing that you made early on where you can look at it and be like, ‘Oh, that's kind of what I do now’?
It definitely took me a while to land on my style. I went through that phase of thinking, I don’t know if I’m good enough to be an artist, and I tried on a lot of different styles that didn’t necessarily feel natural to me. A lot of my early work—especially in high school—was all over the place, which I actually think is a good way to learn and try out new techniques. But once I started leaning into a more minimal style, everything started to make a bit more sense.
These answers have been edited for clarity.
How are you incorporating ceramics into your home this summer?
English (US) · 