Lori Muñoz works in her pottery studio in Houston. She’s an emerging pottery artist whose made plates served at a growing number of local restaurants.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
Lori Muñoz is a server at Nobie’s. She’s also an emerging pottery artist who’s created the plates served at a growing number of local restaurants.
She’d made plates for Tatemo. Crudo bowls for Aiko. Flame-shaped birthday candle holders for Baso. Soon, her work will appear at Angie’s Pizza when it opens in May.
It’s her biggest restaurant client yet, asking for about 100 pieces from her that range from a flat pig-shaped plate for charcuterie to small pedestal bowls featuring sculpted crab claws on them.
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“I’m kind of worried about people trying to steal them,” said Angelo Emiliani, Angie’s Pizza owner. “I think we wanted something that just felt a little sillier with our plate wear — a little more theater.”
Olive bowls, crab plates and candle holders Lori Munoz made for Angie’s Pizza.
Brett Coomer, Staff Photographer
That’s the kind of work Muñoz embraces, but doesn’t usually get to showcase for her restaurant clients. Her pottery side business has grown relatively fast thanks to the connections she’s made as a server. It was at Nobie’s that she met her best friend, who would marry comedian Mohammed “Mo” Amer. The couple offered to be her investors when the studio she was initially working at closed. They allowed her to build a custom studio that she’s been in for the past three years in Sawyer Yards.
Muñoz, who moved to Houston 14 years ago from San Antonio, had only got back into pottery in the wake of a COVID shutdown. It was a passion she picked up in high school and pursued in college before dropping out due to the high costs of school.
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She’s worked in the service industry since she was 21 years old. For the past seven years, Nobie’s has been her home, which she says has been really supportive of her side business.
“When I dropped out of college and was just working in the industry, this just seemed like an unattainable goal, and it’s never lost on me what I’ve done to build this little business and just the connections I have,” Muñoz said.
Lori Muñoz is an emerging pottery artist whose made plates served at a growing number of local restaurants.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
Lori Muñoz molds clay in her pottery studio in Houston.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
Lori Muñoz makes a vase in her pottery studio in Houston.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
Lori Muñoz works on the potters wheel her pottery studio in Houston, Monday, March 30, 2026. Muñoz is an emerging pottery artist who’s made plates served at a growing number of local restaurants.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
Lori Muñoz works on the potters wheel her pottery studio in Houston, Monday, March 30, 2026. Muñoz is an emerging pottery artist who’s made plates served at a growing number of local restaurants.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
Lori Muñoz works in her pottery studio in Houston. She’s an emerging pottery artist whose made plates served at a growing number of local restaurants.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
Lori Muñoz poses for a portrait in her pottery studio. She is an emerging pottery artist whose made plates served at a growing number of local restaurants.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
In 2020, she first started taking her whimsical creations of dinnerware and lamps to local markets. She hosted pottery classes, which she still leads today. And she started posting on Instagram.
It wasn’t long before she picked up her first restaurant client, Neo. She had previously worked with one of the chefs at Uchi. They passed her name along to award-winning restaurant Tatemo. She got on the radar of Aiko and Angie’s Pizza because she previously worked with those owners at Uchi, as well.
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“It’s very cool to see how these friendships and connections have evolved,” Muñoz said. “We all just want to support each other.”
She’s since made a name for herself within the restaurant industry. She recently had a consultation with Belly of the Beast, who reached out to her on Instagram.
When restaurants commission her, they are often for smaller sets that are very specific to that dish or brand. One of the sets Angie’s Pizza is requesting is a tiny bowl only big enough for an olive pit, which will be served with martinis.
Cups adorned by bowtie pasta decorations made by Lori Muñoz are placed on a shelf in her pottery studio in Houston.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
“My pieces work better for more intimate dining like tasting menus,” Muñoz said. “It’s all those small attentions to detail that can really take your restaurant to the next level.”
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But it’s not all just restaurants, she still does other dishware and lamps for clients; her work can be purchased at Montrose Grocer.
Muñoz is working a lot these days between her two jobs, but the goal is to eventually do pottery full-time.
“Every time I walk in the studio, it’s like, wow, this was the goal when I was a kid,” she said. “It feels like there’s a lot of room for growth and potential.”