Leah Kaplan is a Philadelphia-based ceramic artist who came to her practice after a wide-ranging career in design promotion, artisan advocacy, and public service, all while raising three children. For many years ceramics was her side pursuit, something she fit into the margins of a busy life. At fifty, she committed to her art full-time, establishing her own studio in Old City in 2019. With its high ceilings, timeworn windows, and imperfect iron columns, the space has become a place of both discipline and discovery, where Kaplan continues to push her practice forward.

Over the last decade, Kaplan has worked almost exclusively with porcelain. This focused material exploration has become the foundation of her artistic voice. Gradually letting go of glazes and colorants, she has pursued the purity of the medium itself, testing its limits in translucency, strength, and form. Her questions are both technical and poetic: how thin can porcelain become while still holding together? How can movement be captured in a fired object? How can the interior of a vessel be given equal importance to its exterior? In each case, Kaplan invites an element of surprise - discoveries that delight both maker and viewer.

Her process balances rigor with openness to chance. While her technical skill is grounded in decades of working with clay, Kaplan acknowledges that her finest pieces often emerge when she lets intuition, serendipity, and grace take precedence over control. Walking, observing, and photographing inform her studio work as much as time at the wheel. Solitude and light are her essential companions. “I am a work in progress,” Kaplan notes, “and so is my art.” This humility and curiosity infuse her porcelain forms with vitality, turning restraint and precision into vessels that feel alive with possibility.

At Cleo Collects, we are drawn to Kaplan’s porcelain works for their clarity and quiet strength. Her vessels and sculptural forms introduce a sense of structure without rigidity, acting as subtle anchors in layered interiors. In dialogue with our historic and contemporary pieces, Kaplan’s work brings breath and balance, embodying the refined simplicity that is central to our heritage-to-future ethos.