Upstate House

With spring cleaning and warm weather just around the corner, it’s time to give your interior a much-needed refresh. Here are three products we’ve earmarked for a cozy, stylish spring.

Enhanced Everyday Tableware: Brittin Shaw

High Falls ceramicist Kaete Brittin Shaw’s mission is to create nontraditional tableware combining the sculptural and functional to enrich daily living. Each of her pieces is inspired by the spiral. Her signature design is a collection of six-inch cast porcelain bowls that form a spiral when stacked and are available in an ever-widening palette currently including white, black, persimmon, yellow, jade, aqua, midnight blue, orange, and plum. Mottled glazes—created by sponging a gloss glaze over a matte base—give the bowls an unusual depth of color. The dishwasher- and microwave-safe  (though not ovenproof) bowls can be paired with Brittin Shaw’s expansive line of spiral-inspired dinnerware accessories, including nesting trays, serving bowls, cups, condiment servers, a chip-and-dip set, a sake-and-sushi set, and candlesticks.

Badass Dog Gear: Velvet Hippo

Box or donut? That’s the basic question when it comes to choosing a dog bed, or so it was until the Red Hook, Brooklyn-based dog accessories company Velvet Hippo came along. After adopting a pair of pitbulls, founders Jason and Shalina (they go by their first names only) decided to utilize their own furniture- and fashion-design skills and team up with Brooklyn-based design team Uhuru to create a bed that allows dogs to switch sleeping positions comfortably, but also suits a modern design sensibility. The resulting upholstery-covered Hex Cushion has six bolstered sides filled with recycled, hypo-allergenic poly fill, all of which can be removed by way of hidden zippers for the cover’s machine washing. Available in three sizes and three modern colors—Harbor Blue, Fog, and Pewter—the Hex can be topped by the Asher, an Icelandic long-haired sheep’s wool throw that also looks great on a couch. Or collect some of Velvet Hippo’s variety of chew toys and accessories made from repurposed climbing rope. “Sleep, chew, travel” is this company’s motto.

A Cut Above: Feder Knives

Sculptor and blacksmith Geoff Feder left Manhattan for Peekskill in 2004, attracted to the city’s creative community, and began forging knives in his tiny backyard studio. These days, he forges about 200 knives per year, each one taking about two months to complete, and his regular customers include hunters, fisherman, home cooks, Blackhawk pilots, and celebrity chefs like Charlie Palmer and Bryan Voltaggio. Every knife is a collaboration between Feder and his client, and made from high-carbon steel (easily sharpened and with an unmatched ability to hold a razor edge) or polished stainless steel (shinier and perennially free from rust). Feder, who attended culinary school, also forges Damascus blades. He folds and refolds high-nickel steel with high-carbon steel, then drops the blade into acid to etch the high-carbon layers, creating wave lines in the blade’s flank, which then gets signed with his stylized, hand-lettered initials. Handles are made from G10, a glass-reinforced composite similar to fiberglass, with the tang (the continuation of the blade through the handle) filed into a decorative pattern. “You’re never alone with a Feder knife” is Feder’s motto, so while you wait for your order to be filled, you’ll receive weekly progress reports, including handpainted drawings.