Emily Reinhardt grew up in Johnson County, went to college in Manhattan, Kansas, and lived in Omaha for a time. But Kansas City’s creative scene called her back.
“As a creator here, there’s a lot of freedom to thrive and to build your own thing,” she says. “Kansas City has a lot of opportunities for people to bring the things to life that they want to see.”
For Reinhardt, that’s ceramic art. She fell in love with it in college, and she got her degree in it. But like many artists, she struggled within perfectionism. “In school,” she says, “sometimes my assignments were to make them all match perfectly, and I tried so hard, and I just couldn’t get there.”
It was after college that she developed the style her one-woman pottery brand, The Object Enthusiast, is known for. The cups, the vases, the trays—each piece bears marks of the maker and is unbothered by the prospect of perfection. Her customers love it—including Saturday Night Live’s Heidi Gardner, who showed off Reinhardt’s work when Architectural Digest toured her home. Reinhardt loves it, too. Even as her work evolves, she wants descriptors like “perfectly imperfect” to always ring true.
Business has boomed since Gardner’s shout-out, and Reinhardt is hard at work keeping her inventory—both online, at her studio, and at Duet, the shop she co-owns—stocked for the holidays. Then she has a new challenge—her first solo art exhibition, which will open in Columbia, Missouri, in February.
Even Reinhardt’s most functional work tells the story of its construction, but her exhibition will be even freer. “It’s really exciting to be making work that does not have to have a purpose or a function,” says Reinhardt. “It’s just there to help me tell a bigger story.”
Emily’s essentials...
Local Maker: Sarah Veak will forever be one of my favorite potters and makers in Kansas City. Her pottery feels so good in your hands and fits in seamlessly with your everyday life and little rituals.
Can’t-Miss Event: I’ve attended Christkindlmarkt at The Campground as a shopper, but last holiday season I set up my own art booth there. The patio and vendor booths are decorated so beautifully, and the food and drinks can’t be beat. I’ll be set up again Dec. 5-8!
Crafted Mocktail: I love the drinks and the atmosphere at XO. The Femme Fatale is the best drink I’ve ever tasted, and at zero proof, it’s the perfect thing for a night out in-between drinks.
Best Bite: One spot I can always count on is The Antler Room. The food typically rotates, but I have never had a pasta dish there that I didn’t absolutely love!
Hidden Gem: I love Penrose Espresso Bar and Pastry Counter in the Crossroads. A cute walk-up espresso bar has all the charm I’m looking for on my morning walks with my dog, Ruby. The pastries are delicious, and the Americano hits just right on my walk back to the studio.
Caffeine Fix: I’m pretty simple when it comes to my coffee drinks. I like a black Americano (hot or iced depending on the season), and lucky for me, I can get that from several places in town. I love going to Take Care by Oleo, just down the street from us at Duet.