Relax Sarah Wolf may have ditched a career in geological chemistry for ceramics, but her hand-thrown pieces echo her love of the natural world—satiny glazed white Wolf Ceramics mugs, bowls, and vases cut with swaths of rusty raw clay and hazy bands of turquoise (above). “I love seeing what I can accomplish just with simple forms and geometric shapes,” she says. “I get a lot of satisfaction from making things people will actually use.” Prices vary; at WM Goods, Betsy & Iya, and wolfceramics.com

Dine The Granite’s slip cast ceramic vessels pop with dramatic dots and dashes; now design duo Meg Drinkwater and Megan Perry have expanded their line to riotous Occasion Plates that are equally excellent for serving up leftovers or flaunting on a sideboard. $34 at workshop-thegranite.com

Chug Local suds get an arty upgrade with a Blue Crystal Glaze Loop Growler from Portland Growler Company. Inspired by hefty antique whiskey jugs, each vessel is seeded to produce crystal formations during the glazing process, yielding one-of-a-kind finishes. $149 at Eutectic Gallery

Brew A single mom of a young kid, potter Kati von Lehman had no time to fuss with a coffee maker. Enter her elegant, vividly hued Emerald Travel Mug with Pour Over, which makes brewing a morning cup an eye-catching pour-and-go affair. $70 at kativonlehman.com

Sip Sandbox Ceramics founder Petra Wellborn Kaiser’s charming Dash Mug was originally intended as a one-off minimalist gift for her father. Now the cup is so popular the self-taught potter is making her subtly textured, black-and-white charmers for the whole city. $35 at Mantel