Fish Dishes, Lobster Butter Traps, and a Shop Full of Coastal Whimsy

May 27

Gabrielle Stratmann is 26 years old, but she has already competed in Irish dance at the world championship level, moved to England to dance and design embroidered dresses, built a ceramics business through dozens of New England art markets, and now opened one of Kennebunkport’s most distinctive new shops.

Inside Fish Haus, ceramic fish dishes sit in seafood cases packed with fake ice while customers dig through the bins like they’re at a coastal fish market. The concept began, at least partly, because Stratmann thought the phrase “fish dish” was funny.

“Fish dish rhymed, and I thought it was hilarious,” she said.

Stratmann grew up making things constantly. In fifth grade, she invented “Boot Bands,” a fabric accessory designed to wrap around the tops of tall boots. Her parents helped manufacture a small run. By seventh grade, she was hand-painting Converse sneakers for her father’s friends. She describes herself as a “serious kid” who was always searching for the next creative lane to explore.

“I’ve consistently pivoted over and over again anytime I thought, ‘That’s the lane I want to go into,’” she said.

That instinct carried her through years of competitive Irish dance, two attempts at art school, and eventually into the world of ceramics. After years of selling embroidery kits, illustrations, and hand-painted goods at markets across New England, Stratmann took a ceramics class while visiting family in Florida.

“I touched clay and immediately thought, ‘This is it. I found my home.’”

She began building dishes by hand, painting sardines, octopus tentacles, oysters, lighthouses, and blue-and-white maritime motifs across their surfaces. Some of the ideas started as puns. Her lobster trap butter dishes, which reveal a ceramic lobster underneath when opened, quickly became one of her signature pieces.

Last summer, a seven-second Instagram reel dramatically expanded the reach of the business. The video showed Stratmann opening her mock fish market display before the Camden Harbor Arts & Books Festival. The reel went on to generate nearly four million views, helping introduce Fish Haus to a national audience and bringing a surge of new customers and followers to the brand.

“People come for the experience of seeing something familiar, but in a way they’ve never seen before,” she said.

Earlier this year, Stratmann learned the former Seacraft Vintage space in Kennebunkport was available. A week later, she signed a five-year lease.

“It sounds impulsive,” she said. “But I’d really been building toward it for years.”

Famous for:
Hand-painted coastal ceramics, lobster trap butter dishes, and her viral “fish market” displays.

2 Morning Walk Ln Cottage 5, Kennebunk, ME | fish-eyed.com