A Brick and Mortar Home for the Dinnerware Museum

Want to join us in making a difference? We are on the move and raising money to benefit the International Museum of Dinnerware Design! Your donation will help make an impact during the next phase of the museum's growth. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that will mean so much to the preservation of dinnerware design history.

The International Museum of Dinnerware Design (IMoDD) was established in 2012 and since that time we have presented pop-up exhibitions from our home base in Ann Arbor, Michigan and as far away as Chicago and Palm Springs, California. Our on-line exhibitions and monthly Zoom presentations have been another easy way to enjoy IMoDD.

For several years, it has been our goal to a find permanent home for IMoDD's exhibitions and storage of our substantial collection. We are excited to announce that we found the ideal home in Kingston, New York. Kingston is a thriving arts community and located in the beautiful Hudson Valley -- not too far from the homes and studios of noted ceramic designers Russel Wright and Eva Zeisel.

Moving the collection from Ann Arbor and opening our museum in Kingston will require a lot of effort and funding, and that's why we are reaching out to you for your help. We are grateful for your support.

The future home of the International Museum of Dinnerware Design in Kingston, New York

I am Margaret Carney, director and curator of the International Museum of Dinnerware Design. I'm a ceramic art historian who has a passion for dinnerware and everything connected with dining. I established the museum because I loved the contagious enthusiasm of dinnerware collectors. I felt that artists who created functional dinnerware and the master designers for industry were not provided with enough recognition nor celebrated properly in existing museum settings. In fact, the idea of starting a dinnerware museum goes back to working with Eva Zeisel when I curated an exhibition of her work back in 1999.

IMoDD, a 501 (c)(3) charitable tax exempt art museum, was established in 2012 based on the knowledge that dining is a shared experience, bringing together diverse groups of people, creating and celebrating dining experiences and making memories.

a la carte exhibition, 2017

IMoDD collects masterpieces of the tabletop genre created by the leading designers for industry as well as the best functional dinnerware by contemporary artists as well as fine art that references dining, and a bit of kitsch thrown in for good measure.

Castleton China Company, Museum White, designed by Eva Zeisel, 1940s.

Among the 9,000+ objects are exquisite dining objects with a focus on Mid-Century Modern and Art Deco, restaurant ware, hand-crafted masterpieces, single use/disposable dinnerware, edible dinnerware, glassware, Melmac, flatware, advertisements, tablecloths, works in ceramic, glass, metal, plastic, paper and more. International in scope. With prototypes and original design drawings. All with stories.

Dining In Dining Out exhibition, 2018

With a proven track record of innovative exhibitions and captivating programming for the past decade, we need your help today, with large or small donations to support IMoDD moving from Michigan to New York where our first brick and mortar home awaits our arrival. This new space will allow us to have exhibitions and programming available for all visitors all the time and share and show off our collections.

Contributions will be used to literally buy packing supplies and physically move the objects over 650 miles from Ann Arbor to Kingston, New York. That's a lot of boxes, packing paper, tape and bubblewrap!

Unapologetic Dinnerware exhibition, 2018

We can’t do this without you. It is your museum -- and it is your contagious enthusiasm that has brought us to this point. We are the only museum in the world devoted to celebrating dining in all its iterations. Celebrate with us today by making a contribution of any size. And come visit us in the Hudson Valley.

For more information about IMoDD visit our website www.dinnerwaremuseum.org