All the best in your new enterprises.
Thank you for the joy you have brought into our lives with your art!

Calamityware may be the same without you at the helm, but it won’t be “the same”. Best wishes on the transition.

I am very sad to see you go and wish you the happiest and most enjoyable retirement.

I’m pretty sure I’ve been around since the very beginnings – since your first or second Kickstarter. I think we have almost all of your porcelain products and lots of the other things (ok, not the mugs – I’m not allowed to buy more mugs. My husband thinks something like a million is enough. Sorry). We use the big plates and the little plates and the bowls every single day. It’s been so much fun and you have brought so much whimsy into our lives. Thank you thank you for all the joy. I’m sad you are leaving but so glad you were here in the first place. Enjoy your next chapters and get some rest.

I have your small plates with ants, and (for years now) the crazy Christmas mug in which Santa’s sleigh is powered by a pterodactyl. I will miss you folks!

Congratulations on your retirement! Thank you for creating these wonderful calamitous creations and for finding someone you trust to carry it forward. Enjoy the nonwork life.

I have loved y’all’s stuff! Best wishes for the future!

Congratulations on your next adventures. I have loved Calamity Ware and will treasure every item. The Ant plates were a favorite of mine to give from “Ant Pam”. Hugs. Pam

Thanks for all your wonderful drawings and products! Wishing you all joy and zombie poodles as you journey forward. You will be missed.

thanks for the memories. the only china I own is calamitware and it has been my go to wedding gift for years.

you deserve a retirement free from calamity

Sending you all the love and calamity free adventures. But also begging the team running this wonderful disaster to keep creating. I just went all in with a full kitchen of amazing pieces and I WANT MORE! Specifically, I want a dinosaur platter so please Jurassic Park it from the vanished list. Feel free to add more dinosaurs to more things as the mood strikes. A Sasquatch riding a dinosaur could be a fun new direction if you’re bored.

Thanks to all of you and good luck for your next adventures. Or naps. Or naps while on new adventures. Thanks for bringing humor and whimsy to scary times. I love your stuff!!

Congratulations to you! I am thrilled for you – sad for me. I have been a customer/lover of your creations for many years. Your creations make me very happy and I have gifted many of them over the years. However, I am really happy for your success and retirement. Have a blast doing whatever you will do next. Wishing you much joy and happiness!! <3

Dang!!! I have loved all it!!! Best to you all with a very happy life ahead <3
On thing I order a rather large round flat platter with a go fund me for this platter for calamity ware and never received it. What should I do to follow up on this. Ok so this was last year. Why has it taken me so long to reach out?! Yeah that would be my first question too… Lyme disease, Bells Palsy and Epstein Barr Virus diagnosis last 10/15/25. I’ve been out of sorts . If you could point me in the right direction to find out that would be greatly appreciated.
I absolutely love all my pieces from you all and my kids want them when I die! The only things they want <3!!!

Hey, things could be worse! Calamity ware is an awesome legacy. Godspeed

damn

Thanks for the update. I wish you all LOTS of fun and laughter.

Oh no, but happy for you to have this new chapter! That said, from whom should we expect to receive updates on our Veggieterribles Completer Sets? I haven’t made gravy, presented butter at the table or shaken salt and pepper since last October! Plus, the plants in my garden are now looking menacing! Will the emails still be entertaining and communicated via kickstarter? This is such a selfish post, when I should be wishing you only rainbows, frogs, and monsters!

I couldn’t let you sail away into the gloom, I mean doom, I mean wonderful sunset of retirement, without wishing you better than well. Things could be worse, but they could be much better too. You’ve certainly brought cheer to many a day for me and my friends and family, and the products teeming off of every surface of my home, and carried with me wherever I go (truly!), continue to bring laughter and a strangely sideways sense of encouragement. You’ll be missed, but your legacy will live on. Smooth sailing, my friends!

happy trails to all of you. Change is inevitable – growth is a choice. Naps can be profound. May you be safe.
pan y paz,
yvonne. PS. where’s my salt shaker or bitterdish? i forgot what i ordered now..

Auch! You know part of the appeal of buying from this company was the desire to support an artist and his small team, right? Oh well. I’m so glad you had the opportunity to sell your wonderful creations so personally for these years. And I will probably continue to purchase gifts from your products. But I’m glad my personal collection was formed in support of your personal efforts.

BAL’MER??!? NOOooooo! .. NOoooooo … NOooo …

Well, Don, Lynette – retirement is awesome – if I were King of the Forest, you’d be required to drop in your traces before a nice dotage at pasture were even considered. Luckily for the known universe, the only dominion over which I rule is the beautiful Calamity Fest I̶ c̶a̶l̶l̶ a̶ l̶i̶f̶e̶ around my dinner table.

(Is it just me, or do Jonathan and Ed look as if one or both of them is about to void from abject terror?)

Heh. Welcome, guys! We don’t bite. Much. 😁
Just don’t eff it up, make any sudden movements, or poke anything you can’t immediately identify.

Remember, now we’re all watching, and more likely than not, we’ve started a bunch of crazy pools and side bets about the length of time before we can drive you Jack-in-The-Shining loco. 😜

Love and kakistocracies,
Alex/electronicmoll

Good to hear that you all are choosing to enjoy your life. Know that you have brought tangible and lasting joy to those of us who find great humor in graphic reminders that things could be worse. Grateful.

NOOOOO! What am I going to get for wedding presents/housewarming presents/graduation presents??? Guess I’ll need to stock up. In the coming days!
Congratulations on retirement! It is a gift to work at something you love, and be successful enough at it to walk away when the time is right. I just passed my 1 year anniversary of retirement and can tell you that life without deadlines (or wake up alarm!) is a fine thing.
Be well! And thank you for the many bursts of pure snarky joy when someone notices there are monsters roaming about their plate! I will really miss the emails from the Robot. Thanks for making my inbox more exciting!
Dee

BIG HUGS!!!
You brought so much joy when times were tough. Thank you for brightening my life so unexpectedly. I treasure your artistry and ability to express the unexpressable moxie in a crazy world!
Much love and heartfelt wishes as you move forward into new realms of wonder!

Congratulations on your move to the next phase of your lives! I love my Calamityware mugs and will toast to you with my tea this morning.

Best wishes on your continuing journey of life. If you call what you’re leaving for “retirement “, be careful-You may end up busier than when you were working!!!
Before you leave, you should modify one of the “Things could be worse”, patterns to show the four of you walking out the back of a factory! All respect and good thoughts to you all!

Oh no!! I need more crazy puzzles- I’m addicted to them!! I already have all of them and need new ones!!!!!!
Please!! I’m begging you!!

Congratulations! We love your art. Please keep being artsy!

Peace Out~Thank You ✌️

A big thank you first of all. For all the creativity (emails included!), the wonderful products, and the smiles. Wishing you all a wonderful next chapter. Please keep in touch, you’ve got a loyal fan base here.

Hope you enjoy retirement and hope Calamitywear continues in its offbeat way.
I’m going to only yell one thing, “GO BILLS!”

Thanks for all the laughs and wonderful additions to my dinner table! Sending all of you many good wishes for your next chapters.

So glad you knew how to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em! Thank you for all you have done and so glad for all you will be doing! Enjoy your world! Thank you for all you have done to make us laugh a little along the way! <3 :D

Thank you for all of your wonderful products. Wishing you all the best!

Thanks for the years of creativity, service, and humor. No matter how things go in the future, you’ll always have a spot in so many hearts (including mine, of course).

Gads. Bad enuff our Calamityware ant plates were one of the few items that survived our house burning down in the catastrophic, wind-driven Eaton Fire that ignited on 7 January 2025… We still live in the Altadena Wasteland where 9,400 homes burned along with 14,000+ acres of Angeles National Forest above us. Oh, and most of Pacific Palisades burned at the same time as well as a loss of homes in the Hughes Fire. Those events proved that Things Can Always Be Worse. And now, we’re losing Don & Gang at Calamityware. Well… Darn. We hope that Maryland China will carry on all of Calamityware’s whimsy, perversity, and charm. Sadly, that has not been the case with other iconic companies whose founders sell the brand — not to mention any names, like Godiva Chocolate or Buck Knives, etc. That said, we wish Don, Lynnette, Jack, and Nina a pleasant retirement. We retired from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the end of the calamitous Covid-19 Global Pandemic… only to have our entire historic town of Altadena, CA, burn down only 5 years later. Calamities can roll in like waves. We hope that doesn’t happen to All Y’All. Kind regards, Lori
P.S. If you and/or Maryland China would enjoy seeing the charred black BEFORE and shiny like new AFTER photos of our Calamityware ant plates, let me know where to e-mail the photos. You’d be welcome to use my pictures to promote Calamityware… that not only celebrates calamities — but also survives them!

Well, I’m happy for you guys. Having been retired for 15 years, I appreciate that everyone deserves a retirement. But I am totally sad, weepy and emptied knowing that I will no longer have regular creepy art from Don in my inbox. Thank you so much for brightening my day with giggles and allowing me to freak my friends out with your fiendish dishware. All the BEST to you all.

Sad for us, but so happy for you all! Wishing you much joy in this next phase of your lives. Thanks for making the world a little brighter!

Congrats! You made my day a bit better because things could be worse. Thank you for bringing your items into our world. I am happy to own a couple (but not enough).

Aw, youse guys… :-(
I think of you all every time I peer through my kitchen curtains (yes, they’re a Calamity design!), every time I get scoops of coffee from the canister, every cereal bowl of breakfast, and every time I get something hot out of the oven. What wonderful fun you’ve brought to my home! May you all enjoy your future endeavors, and may Calamityware continue to thrive!

While I will miss my favorite weirdos, I wish them all the craptastic adventures this wacky life has to offer! Thank you for lightening our days!

I am so happy that I found you (or rather, you found me) years ago, and that I’ve been able to acquire a number of pieces from you. Your humor is a perfect match for me, and I have been delighted with every item I’ve gotten. So sad to see you step away, but happy for you that you get to start a new chapter. Best wishes! (And perhaps there is a silver lining – Go Ravens!)

Best of luck on the next part of your journey! I love your products and your customer service is top-notch!! Take care and enjoy!

Wishing you all good times and good health as you step away from Calamityware. I started my collection with TCBW mugs and now there is not a room in my house that does not have a Calamityware product. The combination of high quality and humor are simply unmatched and is what drew me to your products and have kept me coming back a couple of times of year to add to the collection. I will particularly treasure the Veggieterribles Completer Set and Dragon Ramen Bowls when they arrive. Most importantly my 11 year old daughter thinks this what household goods are SUPPOSED to look like. I look forward to passing all this on to her. Maybe she’ll bring it on the Antiques Roadshow some day? Long live Calamityware!

Best wishes to you all! The humor and editorial’perspective" have been great.

Many Thanks
(another) Don

We will miss you so much! I love my calamity ware collection! Thank you for leaving us in capable hands 🥰❤️I must say I am HUGE raven person. We have a raven feeder and generations that nest close by. Im excited to see what the new times bring!
Best of luck to all of you! Bravo for following your dreams!

Congratulations! You made me smile. During Covid. And being a Pittsburgh company was the icing on the cake. Thank you for starting this company and enjoy your new ventures!

Before you go Nina. Find April. Unless you are going to leave her for the newbies. Please don’t do that. Set her free….

Congratulations on your new adventure!

I’ve been a customer for years, and have have introduced friends and family to your crazy, wonderful art and beautiful quality items. While I’m sad to see Calamityware change hands, I’m grateful to have fun pieces that I will treasure forever. Best of luck to you all, and thanks for making me smile!

My Calamityware collection started with the Dinosaur platter I saw in a Wall Street Journal profile years ago. My young daughter loved dinosaurs and I planned to use the platter and pass it on when she had children of her own who would probably also share their mother’s passion for dinosaurs. The dinosaur platter morphed into plates with flies and ants and so many other delightful pieces of Calamityware.
In the winter of 2021, our home and everything in it burned to the ground in one of the largest most expensive and unexpected urban wildfires in the United States. The morning of our disaster I had just received the Troll Attorney Bowl, hot off the boat. I unpacked the bowl and set it on our dining room table to admire. We evacuated a few hours later not ever thinking we would return to nothing.
Watching the night time flames destroy our community from a safe ridge, it’s interesting what affects one after a disaster like that. We lost over 45 years of valuable stuff, but all I could think of was “my new bowl”. My husband and I only had the clothes on our backs, our car, and our passports at the time. The next morning, the second thing I did after buying us new underwear was to call you and order a new bowl. I think I remember you telling me you didn’t have many left, but you would ship it immediately at no charge.
Your kindness and generosity brings tears to my eyes even now. You helped me recover from our loss and move on. I cannot thank you enough.
I wish you all the very best in your new adventures. You are the sterling example of good folks for all the joy you have spread. Thank you!

Best wishes to you all in your transition. I have appreciated your unique creativity, attention to detail, and quality work. Thank you for transitioning to another family run business here in the states who is already involved. That is best case scenario for your customer fans.

Aww, happy retirement! I always get great comments about my Things could be worse travel mug. Love y’all! 🤗🥰

I wish everyone a happy next step in their lives. And the best send off would be a special edition with them as the rampaging monsters. I will buy immediately if you do it.

My 1st Calamityware purchase was a coffee travel mug for my son when he was going thru chemo; he enjoyed shoeing others who were also fighting cancer “things could be worse.” Sadly Joshua did not survive his diagnosis, but I am happy that I & several other family members have enjoyed various of your creations. Wishing you continued success in your next adventures.

Jan from Laramie, Wyoming

Best wishes for you all on your next chapters! I love my Calamityware things and will continue to use them and explain where I got them to everyone I meet!

Enjoy your retirement and the new vistas that will open!!!! And thanks for the laughs!

Noooooooooooooo, but since I’m also retired, I wish that glory for you too. Thank you for the joy and fun and the beauty of the Calamityware products through the years ! I got into you because I was looking for blue and white China since my grandmother left me Blue Willow and my wedding China is Noritaki Blue Danube; at the holidays and big dinners I slip in some calamity ware for the fun of it and everyone is thrilled! Bon Voyage, best wishes, and porcelain love to you all!

Everyone deserves to “retire” or just switch streams in our lives. Wishing you all the best! I adore your “things could be worse” line esp. and have the dinner plates, apron and napkins. My husband uses all of the handkerchiefs you have printed and they make me chuckle. We can always use a smile and laughter is an amazing coping mechanism. Thank you for all the past moments and all the future smiles you will bring me.

Congrats! Many thanks for brightening our days and those of the many recipients of Calamitous gifts through the years. It was wonderful to stumble upon your twisted sense of fun! Enjoy the next phase of your lives!

Aw, I’ll miss you guys but I totally get it. Turning a passion into a business can eventually get to be a bit much. You have lives! Go live them and I’ll be watching how Calamityware evolves.
Here’s your hug Don,
Karen

Well congratulations to all of you for coming to this momentous decision- I’m sure it wasn’t easy! We have enjoyed your designs for a bunch of years now – and yes, they still have that magic. Wishing you great health, wild adventures and many happy art making days. And some relaxation too! All the best 💕

Sad news…but happy for the team to be pursuing other adventures!! We are a Calamity house, and the dishes, mugs, and shopping bags bring joy into our daily mundane lives. Will keep an eye on the site for new things – thank you all!

So glad to have found you!!! I don’t like change either but it’s inevitable. All the best on your new pathways. Will miss y’all!

Sad, but excited for you, too. I especially love your jigsaw puzzles and have all available. I will miss the enjoyable product descriptions and e-mails that never failed to make me smile, but totally understand your need for new challenges. All the best to all of you.

I am SO. DAMN. SAD. I, alone, could have kept you in business/orders if only you had delivered to Australia. Your puzzles alone would have been distributed far and wide outside the US. I wish you all so much well. xJill in Adelaide

Best of luck on your next adventures!

So much to respond to, but mainly just wanted to wish you all joy in your next phase of focus. We’ve loved your stuff for years and have bought for ourselves and made plenty of gifts as well. For all of that: thank you!

Dear Don,

After discovering Calamityware many years ago on Kickstarter, I gave some of your wacky items away as gifts, which lured a dear friend to join your porcelain cult. I adore your designs and marvel at the extremely high quality of each item I’ve ever purchased. I’ll treasure them for the rest of my life. The textiles pieces are my personal favorites. I hope to see more debut in the future!

Thank you for the joy you’ve brought to us all. Good luck and well wishes to you, Lynnette, Jack, and Nina!

HUGS! Calamityware has made our lives a bit happier, I still chuckle at the canisters on the kitchen counter in the morning. The plates innocuously peeking out like they belong with my mothers’s china. Mugs handed to guests, waiting for them to see robots and zombie poodles. Haven’t told my better half about the Ramen bows and the platter was a surprise well received. Best Wishes!

I totally get it. When we shut down our bookstore after 32 years it was both the hardest and the easiest decision we ever made. Enjoy your new directions, and know that there is a HUGE amount of twisted (in a good way) people in the world that will continue to enjoy the dishes, shower curtains, keychains, prints, and whatnot that we’ve bought over the years. I’ll be on the watch for anything new from Calamityware, of course. May I make a suggestion? We need something to mark the Calamitous End Of An Era. Come on, Don! Give us die hard fans a special edition opportunity. Ornament? Print? Set of pint or shot glasses? Just sayin…. now that you’ll have all that “extra” time on your hands. Sending big love and admiration from Marin county, in the shadow of Mt. Tamalpais. 💙

Change can be good. I wish you the best moving forward. Thanks for the bowls!!

Here’s a big HUG and many thanks!

Not going to yell. I’m sad, but figured this delirious joy couldn’t last forever. I grin at my kitchen witch canisters daily and I thank you for a bit of daily joy, especially at this grim time. May you all flourish in your new adventures!

Awwww, thanks so much for all the great laughs and perspective!! We had guests two weeks ago, one of whom made a determined attempt to kill the ants on his salad plate with a knife. I shouldn’t do that to our friends with cataracts, but I didn’t know. Massive amusement here over the bat textiles. Good luck as you sally forth.
TCSmith

Sad for us, but very happy for you guys. Thanks so much for all you’ve done to brighten the world for us, and for giving monsters and other strange beings the respect they deserve.
{{hugs}}

The end of an era…even though the products will continue with the same quality, the soul will be gone. As an old retired artist myself, Don was an unofficial friend and mentor that I hoped to emulate. I wish you all the best in the future, here’s hoping Don’s work continues to be available to his avid fans.

Happy for you all. My calamityware gives me a kick every time I use it.

Thank you for sharing your art with us. You’ve made morning coffee and our family mealtimes better. We have giggled over and admired your work for years; a real bright spot. I hope we see more of your work in the future in some capacity. All the best to you and your families. And good luck to the “new” folks.

What a fun/funny and personality-filled message, and congrats!!
I know sports allegiance disagreements can be tough, but we can all still be friends. Go Pats!! (Which is your team? Not the Raven’s, it seems!)

I wish you all the best, but hate to see you go. I understand change is inevitable and wish you much happiness and success in this next chapter. My first order from you was for my adult son. He had one of your products on his Christmas list. Now, I have enjoyed many of your products as well. Thank you for the creativity and hard work that you have put into creating these wonderfully quirky items. I will miss you.

Hugs for everyone. We already have too much yelling ‘out there.’ Somewhere in that group is a cat lover. Thank you so much for giving cats equal time. The cat t-shirts – my all time favorite.

It’s been fun waiting to see what next unmet need you have discovered and decided to fill.

Thank you for quality products, a sense of humor and even a sense of outrage. Kathy

Bon voyage! Gluck auf! Merci for all the nonsense!

I am so Sad!!! I was thrilled by the concept and all things calamity. The tight crew at Calamityware is incredible. Responses to my messages were prompt and good humored. I gave most of my purchases as gifts. I am glad that I did—the ware continues to be bright spots in the lives of my family and friends.

Good luck to you in your next endeavors. It won’t be the same…at all.

Lucy

Good luck in all your future endeavors and congratulations on your escape from the grind!
Glad that calamityware will continue on

Thank you!!!🌺🌈☀️
I just started this collection for my son’s new little family, so very happy I will be able to continue to add to their collection.

All the best to your new adventures,
Shannon Lasorsa

Thanks for the great art and products, team. I love all your creations, and have been enjoying news from you. Best wishes. Thank you.

We think of you morning, noon and night — or rather, breakfast, lunch and dinner….and on picnics and at Christmas….thank you for giving us years of really fun and creative stuff on beautifully made dishes, plates, mugs, teapots, pet dishes, bowls, platters and on and on, to say nothing of “Oh I love your Blue Will…….wait….what?” All good wishes to each of you with our gratitude.

Does this constitute a calamity, even if a small one?

Godspeed to you all.

Considering this was originally mostly a project to fill time post-retirement, I’d say you’ve earned the rest. The Calamityware empire won’t be the same, but you’ve filled our hearts (and China cabinets) with laughter for many years. Enjoy your retirement (finally). We will miss you.

Best of luck to all of you and thanks for all the critters thst continue to bring terrifying joy into our homes! Savor the next chapter in your lives and be well.

Congratulations!
I did want to check on the last Kickstarter though
Everything ok there?
Thanks!

I’m happy for all of you to continue enjoying life the way you see it.
Thanks for all of the years you shared your calamity with us.
Best wishes!

Congratulations and best of luck on your next chapter! As a retiree of eight years’ standing, I recommend it highly.

Congrats! We will miss you all.
I hope everyone has an amazing retirement and that everyone gets more naps with fluffy golden retrievers!
After many years of wear, only a couple people have understood your “cake and Edith” monster tshirt. Makes me cackle every time!
Thank you for all the laughs!

Dear Don, Lynnette, Jack, and Nina,

Thank you for bringing joy to my friends and family. I built my collection from the first set of dinner plates on Kickstarter, and my cupboards now overflow with plates, bowls and mugs… I love watching guests do a double take when they spot a flying monkey or a zombie poodle under the roast dinner. Then I get everyone hunting for the cat! Precious crockery for precious moments. Enjoy your retirement!

Selfishly sad, but happy for you all. I love your things and have lots! I wish all of you all of the best for the future!

Dear friends,
Thank you for bringing so much laughter and joy into our family. From the emails, so cleverly written, to the products we bought to celebrate my sister’s 40th birthday, we will see and smile every time we look at and drink from all her quirky china. Best wishes on the naps! Thank you for sharing and bringing a smile to my face every time Calamityware comes to mind.
Mary Alice Gardner

Things can always be worse, but here’s wishing your new pursuits lead to all the best! Thank you so much for all the wonderful, whimsical, and weird you have given us!

Dear Friends,
How you have brightened my days! One look at my coffee cup and all my troubles seem to fly away with the pterodactyl.

Honestly, these are the most whimsical, funny, happy, adventurous collection, I have ever seen. Each unique piece brings me such joy. I have never had a chance to express my gratitude. I will be sad to see you go, but I am sure you need to go look for a yeti or you might find a lost dinosaur. Who know what your future holds. Just know my love and appreciation goes with you all!
Sincerely yours,
Lisa Denktas