Honoring the History: Q+A with Napa's Danielle Eastman

“You can have a really beautiful relationship with a piece if you insert yourself into it...and just embody it.”

Danielle Eastman of Covet Napa Valley draws a current of nourishing ocean air into the space, into the nuances of the conversation. The way she talks about clay, wheel-throwing, and starting her ceramics studio Covet, it seems she has tapped into her own creative homeland, that there’s nowhere else and nothing else she should be but here. Every step taken has brought her closer to this moment, which - to be clear - is no arrival. As she and I discussed, there is no such thing as arrival. Only an evolution. 

Eastman’s style is minimalist, organic, and consistently elegant. There’s a timelessness to the curvature and silhouettes that feels simple but not trendy. In a sea of minimalism, her work stands out as a genuine expression - something personal to her. I asked her if this has always been her signature, or if there was an evolution to this point.

“...it took a lot of time, and it’s still taking time. I haven’t quite landed exactly where I want to be. But I have always been drawn to the more minimalist...the more natural tones. I love any chance I get to expose beautiful, brown clays... Just to show the material in its raw form. So, yeah - usually I go for that minimalistic look. But always trying to find ways to keep it unique, because you can find minimalist anywhere.

“...I figure it out when I’m on the wheel. Just kind of play around and prototype. And that’s when I have the most fun, is when I’m free-throwing without any plan. I would say that the general aesthetic has been there the whole time, but it’s always evolving.”

Eastman has experienced artistic expression as a necessity to her own wholeness since childhood. But it was clay, specifically, that she landed in - knee-deep. And now she’s shelves-deep, and recently became full-time-deep.

She started working with polymer clay years ago when she was at home with her newborn son, operating within present circumstances but lacking the ability to get to a studio. As she emerged from the more physically demanding phases of motherhood, time opened up for a wheel-throwing class in San Jose. “I took my first intro class to wheel-throwing and I never looked back.” Having taken a wheel-throwing class myself and finding it extremely difficult, I asked her what that learning process was like.

“You have to be really in tune with the clay and how it works, and that takes a lot of time.” A sort of graceful patience shrouds Eastman like a cloud. It is no surprise that among others in the class who struggled to work with the clay, she connected with it from the start. Though she fell for it - and took to it - quickly, her life required a detour into the cellars of wine-making before she would realize pottery as full-time work.

After years of feeling a pull to call Napa home, drawn by its uniquely warm and community-centered energy, Eastman and her family moved here in 2020. With newfound space and resources to open a home studio, she told her husband it was time. She purchased the equipment and built out the space that would become Covet Napa Valley. But it was only a month ago that she quit her job at the winery to devote herself to the craft full-time. When she recently received a large ceramics contract from Bella Union Winery, she took it as a sign to step into the process day-to-day, around the clock.

I asked Eastman what it feels like having just immersed herself in pursuit of her passion - not dissimilar from the place I find myself in this season, with my both of my kids in grade school for the first time, the ability to write stretching out before me like an Eden - and she responded, laughingly, that “it’s a lot of feelings.”

“When you go from a steady income and offering something to your family that you know is consistent...it’s hard to let that go. So there’s this moment of excitement...that that dream had finally come true. But then at the same time, there’s a lot of anxiety that comes with it too. And as a woman, I don’t like not having a consistent income of my own to contribute or to fall back on.”

I asked Eastman how Napa Valley has influenced her work. And unsurprisingly, her answer delivered closer to poetry than an explanation. “When you think about wine and the farms around here...it comes down to terroir and how you grow the grapes...it’s sometimes the biggest part and it’s very simplistic in nature...all about location and climate. I just loved how beautiful and simple that was and how the industry really honors the land and the history of the land. After going on tours and learning more about the different AVA’s and how those influence the wine...I just fell in love. And that’s the reason I loved it.

“And so when I’m creating for Covet I always think, what is so simple that brings pleasure to people at the end of the day? It’s the little luxuries. Sometimes a bottle of wine is that little luxury. And I recognize how much work went into that bottle...that’s what I want people to feel with my ceramics, too. It’s a little luxury in life that can bring simple pleasure...and they might appreciate how much work went into that one piece.”

A handful of months ago, Eastman taught a class at Juniper Station on the art of kintsugi, which is the Japanese technique of repairing pottery with powdered gold. After seeing posts and photos of the finished products, I was eager to ask her about it. “It’s a whole study of its own, if you really dive into it. The history and the methods... There’s the very traditional method that’s much more complicated. You need a lot more equipment, like humidifiers for slow drying. They use a lot of really natural ingredients traditionally. Like urushi - a tree sap that binds the ceramic together. But that’s a whole process that is beautiful and meticulous and time-consuming. 

“So when we do a workshop at Juniper Station we use a more modern approach, which is how I learned. I did a workshop with an artist out of Japan who was visiting here in Napa and we learned a modern method. It is much more accessible but still pays attention to the materials - making sure it’s non-toxic, food-safe, using the correct gold. So that was a lot of fun. I had to do a lot of material sourcing for that.

“It’s a beautiful process - especially the idea of honoring the history of a piece. It’s not just about fixing something that broke. It’s more about celebrating the flaws, and if something breaks it’s part of the history of that piece. Instead of just gluing it back together and hiding the defect, kintsugi really illuminates the crack with that gold line... And I just think aesthetically, it’s beautiful. The deeper meaning behind it is beautiful. And also it’s a lesson in not wasting. 

“You can have a really beautiful relationship with a piece if you insert yourself into it...and just embody it. And take some of the painful experiences of your past and say, “This is why I am the way I am today.” And honor it and celebrate it. Even if it was hard. And know that it landed you wherever you are now.

“So I really loved that whole process. And working with people on it was fantastic. I think everybody really enjoyed it. And they were able to buy little kits and do it at home, too. And so that was a ton of fun. At some point I’ll make another one work out at Juniper.”

Talking to Danielle reminded me that there is always the present moment - always the opportunity to stop and assess your surroundings. Is this where I want to be? Is this an authentic expression of myself? I believe that Danielle can deliver a bold yes to these questions. Not that kind of boldness that shouts, that forces itself into a space, but the kind of boldness that seeps in through the cracks in the windows and walls - the kind that is so striking because it is so authentic. You find it has filled your senses and calmed your nerves before even announcing its presence. It’s an artist’s boldness, one that embodies itself, cracks and flaws traced in precious gold.