When Connor McGinn joined the Peace Corps, he didn’t realize the impact it would have on his life. Sent to Togo in 2011, he worked with artisans in the West African nation and was inspired by both their sense of community and crafting methods. He witnessed local potters “make everything completely by hand—no wheels, no actual kiln. They would pile everything up in the center of town [with] wood and leaves and light it on fire,” he says. “It was fascinating to me that they’ve been doing it this way forever.”
Later, McGinn started cooking for volunteers and local neighbors, a hobby that he says brought everybody together. When he returned home two years later, he convinced management at a restaurant he worked at in upstate New York—not far from where he grew up and now lives—to let him make the tableware for their café based off the interest he cultivated in Togo. “They went out on a limb,” McGinn says of their trust in his skillset.
The tabletop experiment was a success, and shortly after, he found himself creating another set for a different restaurant. Working as a bartender simultaneously, he had the perfect perch to see how diners used the dinnerware, noticing “if the edges of the bowl were too high [making it] awkward to eat out of it—all of these nuanced details you would never hear as a potter.”
Today, McGinn has turned throwing clay into a thriving business, collaborating with a handful of notable chefs, designers, and restaurants. His latest creation incorporates a matte finish on raw black clay and a satin white glaze on white porcelain for a restaurant in Manhattan with chef Austin Johnson. “I couldn’t use color as a crutch,” he says. “[With chefs,] you’re working with the end user. The pieces are a supporting role in the show that the chef is directing and producing.”
