In Kingston, a museum where every plate tells a story
A mandarin orange Streamline and Tricorne dinnerware set by Salem China Company of Ohio from the 1930s, on display at the International Museum of Dinnerware Design. The museum, which opened in Kingston last year, has more than 20,000 pieces in its collection. (Kelly Marsh/For the Times Union)
Walk into The International Museum of Dinnerware Design in Kingston's arts district and your eye is likely to be drawn to a thicket of deep green leaves and ruby red roses. Look more closely and you'll find a visually arresting and ingeniously designed 73-piece set of sculptural dinnerware called Rose Garden: 12 place settings, including plates shaped like leaves, cups resembling stems, bowls that look like roses, and salt and pepper shakers that double as rose buds, all fit together and set on a leather and copper base.
This unusual sculpture, which museum director Margaret Carney calls "the Mona Lisa of the collection," is an apt metaphor for this funky, under-the-radar museum and the window it offers into ideas and attitudes on food, dining and culture.
IMoDD was founded in 2012 by Carney, a ceramics historian and curator. It began with 1,200 items she had amassed during her career working in museums and has grown over the years, mostly via donations from enthusiastic niche collectors. Carney has developed the collection with the principle that every piece has a story.
Now at nearly 20,000 pieces comprising china, metal, paper and plastic dinnerware, and objets d'art related to dining, the collection reflects Carney's passion for food, what it is eaten off of, how it looks on a plate and the full dining experience, including ambience and environment.
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design on Broadway in Kingston on Oct. 17, 2025. (Kelly Marsh/For the Times Union)
Margaret Carney is the director of the International Museum of Dinnerware Design. She has a Ph.D. in Chinese ceramics. (Kelly Marsh/For the Times Union)
"Dining is a powerful shared experience that brings communities together by fostering connections through shared stories, conversation and common ground over food," she said, adding: "Dinnerware is a ubiquitous thing. We all eat off something. Why not learn about it and celebrate?"
No museum in the United States had a focus on recognizing "the makers of one-off, of artist-made contemporary work and the designers for industry," Carney said. She was inspired to establish the museum by the example of famed industrial designer Eva Zeisel, who was still creating at age 104. This is her passion project - Carney is unpaid.
Unable to find an adequate permanent space in Ann Arbor, Mich., where she was then based, Carney ran the museum via pop-ups and at larger art shows until opening a year ago in the sun-washed space on Broadway that formerly housed Barcone's Music Company.
Margaret Carney, the director of the International Museum of Dinnerware Design, holds a Geiger counter to a radioactive Fiesta cup in her office at the International Museum of Dinnerware Design in Kingston, N.Y., on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2025. (Kelly Marsh/For the Times Union)
Dinnerware piques people's interest, said Carney; one recent visitor told her that IMoDD was "the most real museum" they'd ever been in.
"I think it's because we can all relate to dishes in some way or another and so it actually has more meaning than if you're looking at paintings or two-dimensional work or something that is abstract," Carney said.
Visitors often enter with a fixed idea or are eager to see pieces of dinnerware they collect, only to be surprised to find items that are different than everyday ware or what Carney refers to as "grandma's" dishes. Pieces are intentionally chosen for their good design. While Carney says it is difficult to define "good design," she characterizes it generally as form and shape as opposed to decoration or the patterns on a plate or object.
Dining Grails is the museum's permanent exhibit and highlights the most prized pieces. Rare dinnerware from Russell Wright, the iconic American industrial designer; an ancient ewer from China unearthed from a 1108 flood of the Yellow River (Carney's Ph.D. is in Chinese ceramics); and a black wire scribble sculpture of a European tablescape by David Oliveros typify the collection's remarkable depth and variety.
The permanent Dining Grails exhibit at the International Museum of Dinnerware Design. (Kelly Marsh/For the Times Union)
"Rose Garden, " a terra cotta dinnerware set by artist Eddie Dominguez, on display in the Dining Grails exhibit at the International Museum of Dinnerware Design in Kingston, N.Y., on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2025. (Kelly Marsh/For the Times Union)
Another gallery currently hosts an invitational and juried show called Picnic, running through Jan. 17, 2026. An exhibit featuring ashtrays will open on Feb. 7. There's also a popular interactive exhibit where visitors can learn the age-old trick of pulling a tablecloth off the table, leaving the dishes behind.
"The coolest thing is people shrieking in an art museum," Carney said with a laugh.
Due to budgetary constraints, Carney rarely purchases items; she often acquires pieces via her relationships throughout the ceramics community. Prospective donors extensively document the history of their items via a detailed questionnaire. Visitors can scan a QR code at every exhibit, learning, for example, that the midcentury dinnerware featured in the museum's logo was a Depression-era collaboration between the dinnerware and movie industries to sell dishes and movie tickets.
"Picnic," the juried art show. (Kelly Marsh/For the Times Union)
"Picnic" by artist Donald Clark. (Kelly Marsh/For the Times Union)
Carney, who loves Kingston's artistic vibe and community, has an expansive vision and long agenda for IMoDD. She hopes to permanently settle the museum here, perhaps across the street in the former Trailways bus depot, affording more space to show the collection, and to open a café - this is a dinnerware museum after all - and an intimate piano bar serving vintage cocktails. She also wants to partner with the Culinary Institute of America for food-focused events and collaborations. Adding locals to IMoDD's board will strengthen its presence and spread the word about this area gem.
"Sharing a meal transcends cultural and linguistic differences, encourages storytelling and the exchange of ideas, and forms lasting memories," Carney said. "The dining objects collected by the museum preserve dining histories and shared memories. Every plate, fork and cup has a story. We collect the objects and the stories and share them."
