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Pots for all occasions.
The Pohutukawa range is a perennial favourite.
Ian Foote has lost none of his enthusiasm for his craft.
It’s full steam ahead for Matakana pottery Morris & James as it ramps up production for the festive season to meet the insatiable demand for its finely crafted ceramics.
On offer are pots of all shapes and sizes, platters, wall panel sets, vignette tiles, elegant dishes, tiny house collectibles and Christmas tree decorations.
It will be the 31st Christmas at Morris & James for head potter Ian Foote, and he’s lost none of his enthusiasm for his craft.
“There’s definitely a satisfaction at the end of the throwing session, looking at all the pots on their trolleys and racks, and feeling you have done a decent day’s work,” he says.
“I still find it challenging and interesting, and you never stop learning.”
Getting to be head potter was something of a long haul. Ian started in the warehouse wrapping items for despatch, until a workmate suggested they swap jobs and he ended up becoming a tile glazer for a while.
From there, he moved around various departments before finally settling behind the wheel and shaping pots himself about 20 years ago.
He says the craft is a combination of physical effort and intense concentration.
“It’s not a matter of pushing buttons or anything like that – you have got to make conscious decisions as you are forming the pot all the way through the process.”
Ian says he strives for simplicity of form, “something that will please the eye without being fussy”.
His working day starts at 7am and he and his team will make perhaps 120 smaller pots in a single morning or possibly 20 or 30 larger pieces.
“After that, it’s nice to get your boots off and put your feet up,” he jokes.
Afternoons are spent preparing pots for firing and loading and unloading kilns.
After firing, pots are glazed and then decorated. Ian says the idea is to get a reasonably consistent look for the same item. If a customer wants a second pot to match one they already have, then the ideal is to be able to go and pick one off the shelf which looks much the same. Inevitably, given pots are entirely handcrafted, there will be variations and decorators can spot a piece they have worked on versus one painted by a colleague.
Ian finds the handcrafted approach preferable to using moulds, which limits creativity. As it is, the potters can easily vary designs as needed.
“I think we have quite a good marriage of the factory production side of things and the studio artsy side of things. We can blend the two worlds together reasonably well,” he says.
“You can lean either way depending what the project demands.”
