“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it.”
– George Eliot
Lidded Candle Vessels for Lit
How can it be that the end of the month is already here? I am sipping tea whilst in the my hotel room in Oxford. I’m here because we are exhibiting at Oxford Ceramics Fair this weekend and I so wish I could also have time to explore this beautiful city. I thought it would be a nice little moment of time with no children or pots around me to gather my thoughts and write down all that has been happening in October.
This month two exciting new collaborations have launched, both with candle makers. We first started working with Pott on their collaboration in the new year and its been such a pleasure working with them. We’ve made for them a faceted candle holder and match pott in our charcoal glaze. It has turned out really nicely (we got through a couple of cheese slicers faceting these!).
Secondly we were asked by Heather at Lit to work on a lidded vessel. The lid also acts as a little tea light holder when flipped over. We added blue slip with a hakeme brush (made by Sheffield maker Rosa Harradine) and glazed over the top in a crackle wood ash glaze. I think it is really beautiful and I love the multi use aspect of the lid. There are only 15 so I’d act fast if you’d like one…..
October has seen a significant amount of custom ordered dinner ware sets heading out. I love seeing which glaze colours everyone chooses, and packing them all up together. I imagine them being used and hope they give us much pleasure to the user as they were for us to make (mostly, when it goes to plan!). We also have completed orders for our valued stockists Edinburgh Mercantile, Boutique Generale in Paris and currently have a lovely order in transit to Vienna for Volta (including teapots!!!). Phew!
We have a few large and really interesting commissions on the go at the moment which is somewhat dominating our making schedule. With Christmas coming up it is quite daunting because we don’t have as many pots made as we would like. Watch out for a mini update next week including ramen bowls, candle holders, beakers and mugs.
We have fairs in November at Forage in Northumberland, at the Rigg and Furrow, The Hepworth Wakefield (we are week 1) and December we are the Victoria Festive Fair in Sheffield and also the TOAST festive market in London. I think there will be some emergency making late into the nights! Whilst it is a bit exhausting right now, I am of course pleased that we are so busy - it means that despite all that is being thrown our way British craft is still here, still going, potters are POTTING!
Which leads me on nicely to tell you that, despite our best efforts over the last 18 months or so, Matt and I cannot physically do all this work alone and so I am delighted to introduce our two new potter employees, Rachel Jeffree and Rowena Hamilton who have been with us a few months now. It feels like a complete privilege to have these two join our team. Both are clay college graduates (of different years) and they bring unique qualities to the team. In her own practice, Rachel works with porcelain and lots of colour (and makes a lovely teapot) and Rowena works with stoneware, both at the wheel and slab building, with lots of wood firing. Please do give them both a follow on social media. Without these two we honestly wouldn’t be able to complete so many orders to such a high level of quality and I look forward to showing you more behind the scenes snippets with Rachel and Rowena in the coming months.
Things we’ve enjoyed listening to / watching in October : Desert Island Discs with Ann Patchett. I found her perspective to be so interesting, she is definitely someone who owns her thoughts whilst also being so kind. I am looking forward to reading something of hers soon.
Matt and I are watching the Traitors (of course!!!)
Things we’ve enjoyed reading: ‘The Palm House’ by Gwendoline Riley which was truly excellent, I was in awe at her writing ability and talent for dialogue. Also ‘May We Feed the King’ by Rebecca Perry which I consumed rather quickly. Very unusual but excellent.
Things we’ve enjoyed cooking (and eating): We made a huge batch of caramel slices and I have eaten SO many. Pots powered by sugar and butter……..
Broth, Soup or Ramen Bowl thrown in an iron-rich flecked stoneware and available in the following glazes: charcoal, nori, ochre, olive, powder, sand and speckled white. To learn more about the different glaze colours, please see our colour guide.
This bowl was originally developed as a ramen bowl, however we find it suitable for many varieties of foods - from breakfast porridge to soups and stews - so we decided to change the name to honour that.
This is the regular size, but we also make a larger version.
Small, £42ea: 8cm h x 17.5cm ø
Tall mug in an iron-rich flecked stoneware and available in the following glazes: charcoal, nori, ochre, olive, powder, sand and speckled white. To learn more about the different glaze colours, please see our colour guide.
325ml // 11 cm h x 7.5 cm ø
Autumnus Bowl thrown in an iron-rich stoneware and glazed in our shino glaze, reduction fired in a gas kiln. This glaze is a warm peach / orange colour, whiter in places with lots of subtle iron flecking from the clay.
Our Autumnus Vase range was first created in 2022, each bowl being designed to fit a medium sized Kenzan, perfect for creating floral arrangements. Simple add the kenzan, arrange the stems and add water. The bowl also works well as a fruit bowl or stand alone decorative piece.
28.2 cm x 8.2cm