An Interview With Dodie Thayer’s Granddaughter and All About Lettuce Ware

I have a very special guest for you today! Some of you already know about my deep love for lettuce ware and Dodie Thayer.

But if you’re unfamiliar, you’re probably scratching your head asking “who is Dodie Thayer? And what is lettuce ware?” Prepare to be enlightened.

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Dodie Thayer was an extremely gifted potter who started the lettuce ware trend collected by high society Palm Beach socialites. To give you an idea of how coveted her whimsical pottery is today, a collection just sold in January for $60K. Or you can purchase these plates for a cool $5,598.

Everyone from the Duchess of Windsor, to Jackie ‘O, to Frank Sinatra, to Bunny Williams collected her signature lettuce ware.

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After sharing my tea cups from the Tory Burch x Dodie Thayer collaboration, a follower introduced me to her friend, Jennifer – who happens to be Dodie Thayer’s granddaughter!

What are the chances right?! I shrieked I was so excited. {Thank you again Ilyssa for the introduction and making all my Dodie Thayer dreams come true!}

As a treat, Jennifer, who’s also a brilliant artist herself, agreed to answer a few questions for us fans.

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Meet The Granddaughter of Dodie Thayer – Jennifer

Jennifer, I cannot thank you enough for being here today. This is truly an honor and something I’ll never forget. Take it away!

Jen, you are quite talented yourself! Can you share more about your illustrations and work?

Thank you! I did portraiture for about ten years before deciding to seriously pursue illustration so it has been a more recent endeavor. I am currently working primarily in graphite. I am obsessed with details, often probably too much so.

One random thing I would like to share though is that many published illustrators sell prints from their books on their websites. As a mom this has been an amazing discovery for me because I have purchased prints from many of my favorite picture books to decorate in my daughters rooms and playroom. They are gorgeous and it’s a great way to support illustrators. (Some of my favorites are Dan Santat, Sophie Blackall, the Fan Brothers, Aaron Becker, Jessica Lanan, and Teagan White.)

At what point did you realize your grandmother – Dodie Thayer – was kinda a big deal?

Sometimes, when I was a kid, I would get the privilege of going to Palm Beach on Friday with my grandma. She would work in the studio during the week and then on Friday she would go into Palm Beach to drop off her work at a local shop and go to lunch.

It was a very beautiful shop filled with lots of fragile things. It was very intimidating as a kid. When I went with her I always knew she was important. They were always quite excited to see her and to see the work she brought. Sometimes I would sneak over to her display (always with my arms tightly clenched in front of my chest because I was terrified I would bump into something).

But I think the time it truly dawned on me the most was much more recently when Tory Burch came down to meet her and I had the privilege of attending. I was quite excited to meet Tory Burch but you could tell how excited she was to meet my grandma. So that was pretty neat.

Any special memories with her?

So many. I loved talking with her in her studio as she worked. But my favorite thing about her, looking back, was how much she supported our art (my siblings and I).

As a child her studio was thrilling. When I was very young her studio was in her garage. Then they built a new house and her studio was almost the entire first floor. There was a wall of windows looking out at the Loxahatchee River with a long table that ran along them. She would sit down on one end to work. The table itself was kind of picnic table style with a bench that ran along the length. It was covered in jars and containers holding tons of brushes and tools. There also was this walk-in closet that was lined in shelves and filled with glazes and pieces of colored glass you could melt in the kiln. We were always welcome to create. We could wedge our own clay and then just go to town.

The most inspiring thing was that she never told us we couldn’t use her things.

As an artist now I know how expensive supplies can be. But she never made us feel “less than” as artists. She was never like, oh no don’t use those brushes or those glazes. It felt like we were peers artistically. Then when we came over after she had run the kiln you could feel how excited she was to show us our pieces. It was just this tremendous sense of being valued as an artist and I never questioned that it shouldn’t be that way even though we were in elementary school. I have since took that with me with my own daughters.

When they want to sketch I give them my Bristol paper and let them use all of my supplies. And you can tell how proud they feel to use the same exact stuff as mom.

It should also be noted all three of my siblings (while technically holding “day jobs”) are incredibly talented ceramists. My brother, Billy, has a wheel and kiln at his house and he works when he can. My other brother, Ben, just had some thrown work in a show in the Lighthouse Gallery down in Tequesta, Florida. My sister, Jill, was actually a ceramics major originally at FSU (where my grandma also went) although she ended up switching majors. It’s a great perk for me because any time I need new bowls or mugs they can just make them for me! So that love for art clearly resonated with all of us.

Any entertaining tips or traditions you picked up from your grandmother?

She always made really good iced tea! At first I didn’t enjoy it as a kid because it was unsweetened. But now I love it because it makes me think of her.

What is something that would surprise us about your grandmother that most people don’t know?

Her maiden name was Dubois and her family has a very rich and deep history in the Jupiter area. Her mother Bessie Dubois, my great grandmother, wrote some books on the area and they had a fishing camp and restaurant. So they were a pioneer family.

My grandma also really loved to fish. She actually held records at one point for fishing and a very accomplished fisherwoman.

I’m clearly a lover of her famous Lettuceware! How many pieces do you own?

I own a small collection. My favorite items are the Christmas tree and the owl. The owl is actually the only piece that she directly gave me as a kid so it is very dear to me. I am devastated because it has a small chip on it that occurred during one of my many moves. But she loved owls so it’s quite a special piece.

I also love the pieces that I have of hers that aren’t lettuceware. I own several ceramic pieces as well as some paintings.

If someone were to collect, which piece is a MUST? Any lettuce pieces more desirable than others?

The absolute jewel for any collector is, without a doubt, the tureen. It is a masterpiece. Hopefully one day I can get my hands on one but that is definitely the piece to go for. It is also interesting to note how her pieces evolved over time.

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These pieces show how her veining changes from early work to her later work. The first is an early plate so you can see minimal veining. Then the next was more developed (my favorite) and the last was later work where the veining is more intricate and a lot closer to the Tory Burch ones.

Did you ever get to meet any famous people with your grandmother?

The only one I’ve met is Tory Burch. She came down to meet my grandma when they began their collaboration. It was so lucky because I thought she would be there the week before and I was so sad to miss it because I just happened to be coming down the next weekend for something unrelated. But then it did end up being the same weekend.

I was nervous to get to meet her because, first, what do you wear?? And second I was worried she would be really intimidating. But she was just the most lovely, warm, humble, genuine, down to earth person you could ever meet. I could not say enough good things about her and her team. They were absolutely wonderful.

Any fun projects we should keep our eyes peeled for by you? And where can we best follow you?

You can follow me on Instagram @jslackillustrations! Right now I’m building my portfolio and looking to find an agent.

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Jennifer, I cannot thank you enough for your time and sharing your beautiful stories with us. We can’t wait to see your story unfold!

If you want to dip your toe into the lettuce ware trend, I have these pieces and very affordable!

Photos by Chicago Andrea Creative