Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1947

  • Work on this object began.

1957

  • Work on this object ended.

2023

2025

  • You found it!

Canapé Tray, Greetings from Pahlmann to all dodo workers

This is a Canapé Tray. It was designed by Sascha Brastoff and made for (as the client) William Pahlmann.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Betsy Wellington as part of A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes.

It is dated ca. 1952. Its medium is glazed stoneware with luster. It is a part of the Exhibitions department.


Liebes’s longtime friend and collaborator, interior designer William Pahlmann, was a frequent visitor to the Dorothy Liebes Studio. Around 1952, he commissioned plates from Los Angeles ceramist Sascha Brastoff as holiday gifts for the studio employees. Using one of Liebes’s many nicknames—Dodo—he dedicated them "to all dodo workers."

It is credited Courtesy of Betsy Wellington.

Its dimensions are

H x diam.: 1.3 × 20.3 cm (1/2 in. × 8 in.)

It is inscribed

Greetings from Pahlmann to all dodo workers

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318808231/ |title=Canapé Tray, Greetings from Pahlmann to all dodo workers |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=20 May 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>