I could not have had a better teacher to understand Jan van der Vaart’s spare, formally structured ceramics than the legendary, unofficial minister of Dutch Arts, designer Benno Premsela. From 1985, my partner Mark Del Vecchio and I visited Amsterdam almost every summer for fourteen years, staying in his and Friso Broeksma’s guest apartments, first on Keizersgracht and then Prinseneiland. It became one of the most remarkable and profound friendships of my life. Mark and I would return late at night from the clubs and bars and usually found Benno, who slept very little, awake and ready for a chat. The conversation often turned to ceramics, and he would walk us up to the top floor of his canal house where the pieces that were not on display were tucked in under the eaves on crowded shelves holding scores of pots.