There is something incredibly earthly about pottery. At its root, pottery has that distinctive nostalgic air that can take you back to sitting in the garden as a child, mud squelching through sticky fingers, surrounded by newly created mud pies that are resplendently decorated with anything and everything the fruitful garden has to offer.
Thankfully for us, pottery artists have come a long way from mud pies in the garden. It's not just an art, but a science and a craft - as well as being so much more in between. Pottery is so incredibly multifaceted and every single piece of handmade pottery is truly unique - even the humble mug can have countless variations to it. There are endless possibilities for every creative design as well as subtle differences of each piece - which are usually unseen by a cursory glance - but they are what makes handmade pottery so decidedly everyday, human and perfectly imperfect.
Hannah at Lavender Blue Pottery exemplifies and champions the beauty in everyday life. Her studio - aptly painted a beautiful indigo blue and adorned with aromatic lavender - tucked away in the wilds of East Devon is where she creates her unique pottery. As the face and hands behind the pottery, Hannah has worked tirelessly to create items that are both characteristically unique as well as able to withstand everyday life. Her meticulous and artful eye ensures that nothing leaves her studio that she deems isn’t perfect. The pottery that she produces is the result of years of hard work and study, hours spent at the potters wheel and months upon months of carefully studying different glazes for her pottery.
Lavender Blue and the wonderful products that are produced under this moniker is the result of all of this hard work. Hannah believes that whilst no one piece of pottery should be industrially identical; there is actually beauty to be seen in sameness and homogeneity. Her enthusiasm for what others would call 'quotidian' is an excitement that we both admire and advocate ourselves. All too often in our consumer climate of more, more, more, it is so easy to be overwhelmed and relent under the never-ending barrage of information telling us that we need these material goods to be happy, or this technology to make our lives better. Lavender Blue's motto is to cherish the ordinary, respect the natural materials accessible locally and luxuriate in the everyday. It's a motto worth remembering.
Hannah’s zest for life really shines through her ceramics. Her vivacious and welcoming spirit comes to life in her art - each piece is essentially a testament to her hard work, creativity and perfectionism. What is most invigorating about both her work and her spirit is that she is fascinated by the beauty of everyday objects and delights in what others would call unremarkable. The simplicity of a steaming cup of coffee in the morning, the steadiness of a good book or even the understatedness of the weekday dinner. These are the moments that make up who we are, as art weaves itself in and out of our lives. Hannah and her pottery evokes the sense that whilst each day can have trials and tribulations, there are always sparks of beauty that can be celebrated - even in the everyday.
See the full collection of Lavender Blue ceramics at pipersfarm.com
