What are Kettle and Kame?

Kettle and Kame are glacial landforms - the mounds and hollows left behind as glaciers melted and reshaped the earth thousands of years ago.

These formations were part of the landscape where Melissa grew up, and hold a deeper personal meaning. Her father, a research chemist with a great love of geology, spent years studying the earth - its rocks, formations, and quiet transformations over time.

Melissa named the studio Kettle and Kame to honor him and the perspective he passed on: to notice, to wonder, and to appreciate the beauty of the natural world. That connection lives on in her work.

It also happens that every form created on the pottery wheel starts as a mound which is then opened and formed into a “kettle hole” and shaped by hand, echoing the same movements found in the land.

The layering of porcelain in her jewelry mirrors the slow creation of stone beneath our feet.

In this way, each piece is part of a larger geologic story - one that connects us to earth, memory, process, and play.