In 2014 – a full year before Lennox Hastie opened Firedoor in Sydney – he asked ceramicist Malcolm Greenwood to craft tableware for his upcoming restaurant. The chef clearly valued the artist’s talent for turning ideas into beautiful, hand-shaped reality. “We’ve worked on many unique designs over many years,” says Hastie. Recently, they collaborated on a bowl inspired by an abalone’s shell, and their yakisugi plates were imprinted with pieces of burnt wood. The chef understood how a ceramicist could highlight Firedoor’s star ingredients and smoky, ember-driven menu in creative ways, but Greenwood – who began making ceramics professionally in 1989 – says he initially struggled for hospitality
