Tea for Two: The Teapots of Gloria and Sonny Kamm

Los Angeles collectors Sonny and Gloria Kamm have created a vast and wide-ranging collection centered on a single item, the teapot. It began as a search for interesting and fun teapots to place in their home. Their interests in contemporary art led them to collect and commission studio craft teapots by a wide range of artists. Envision a teapot made of perforated clay or another made of heavily embroidered fabric or even one made of metal mesh and pistachio shells! Form complicates function.

Gloria has called these concept teapots “delightfully useless” in terms of practical function. And yet in partnership with her husband Sonny, the Kamms see the function of a teapot less as a device for serving the legendary beverage, but rather as a celebrated vehicle for expression. The hospitable and iconic teapot has a 500-year history and has been widely and wildly interpreted by artists and production houses alike. Tea for Two will feature a curated selection giving insight into the inclinations and motivations of the couple. They are also featured in one of the newest Craft in America episodes, Collectors. 

Gloria regards contemporary, one-of-a-kind teapots as “containers full of ideas” where the artist has transmuted, by their hands, their worries, celebrations or ponderings into the object. The wide scope of styles and materials in the curated selection will not only cause visitors to marvel, but to also give greater consideration to the structure of a teapot: pot, handle and spout. The irreverent and whimsical interpretations of these integral parts will provide entertaining musing for viewers of all ages.

Unique, one-of-a-kind teapots made by important contemporary designers, architects, painters, sculptors, ceramicists and craftspeople, often with a non-traditional approach to media, are the main thrust of this significant collection. The support that the Kamms have given to hundreds of artists through their purchases and commissions is immeasurable. 

The Kamm Teapot Foundation is a non-profit that archives and catalogues the world’s largest and most comprehensive teapot collection of over 17,000 items. The Foundation is a charitable trust, with its purposes being to acquire, preserve, maintain and arrange for the exhibition of teapots, tea sets and teapot-related ephemera.