It’s time to ditch the factory stuff and move to a more sustainable and beautiful option, and in this post, we will discuss why you should buy handmade pottery and what to consider.
Some things to look out for and help you decide what you are looking for in a piece and what you expect.
2.1 Handmade wares make great gifts
3 What to consider when buying handmade pottery
3.1 Is it a functional piece or decorative?
3.2 How to determine if you intend to use it as a decorative or functional piece.
3.3 Functional pieces and what to consider
3.4 Some notes on non-functional pieces
4 Price
5 Final notes on buying pottery
1. What is Handmade Pottery?
Handmade pottery is a vase, cup or object handmade by a person, not a machine, where each piece is different, even when using the same materials and design.
Handmade pottery can also be unique in using traditional methods of pottery making, like hand-building pieces with nothing but clay and hands (& some hand tools) or using firing techniques like raku firing or fired pieces in a wood kiln.
2. Why buy handmade pottery?
When you buy handmade pottery, you are not only supporting the artist, but you are also supporting lots of small businesses that the artist interacts with through the purchase of tools and materials.
Also, handmade pottery is usually unique to the artist, either in the object itself or the decoration used on the piece. It is also a very decorative piece for your home or office.
2.1 Handmade wares make a great gift
Handmade pottery makes a fantastic gift for someone. It shows you have gone out of your way to get something special for them and thoughtfully selected something you think they will like.
Also, the likelihood you get them the same present as someone else drastically drops and even if you do, each piece is different in some way. A vase is made each time differently, as you can never handmake something the same way.
3. What to consider when buying handmade pottery
There are some things you should consider when buying a piece of pottery. For instance, will you use it as a functional or decorative piece?
But undoubtedly, the most important question you must ask yourself is, do you love it? Or if it is a gift, will they love this piece? If the answer is yes, then that is the most important thing. Life is short, so fill your life with things that make you happy and put a smile on your face.
It shouldn’t be about “is this a good artist”, “is this artist worth a lot of money” or the like.
3.1 Is it a functional piece or a decorative piece of pottery?
Why it is important to distinguish the two is the way artists make functional vs decorative wares, which will differ depending on the pottery’s intended use.
3.2 How to determine if you intend to use it as a decorative or functional piece.
For instance, a coffee cup is a “functional piece”, whereas a plaque for a wall is a “decorative piece”.
The lines somewhat get blurred when you consider a vase is a “decorative piece”, but you may want to put flowers in it and subsequently need it to hold water, making it more of a “functional piece”.
Also, if you have a platter on which you intend to sit your keys on or as a decorative piece on a sideboard, that would be considered a “decorative piece”. But if you intend to use it as a fruit or cheese platter, it would be a “functional piece” and must be food safe.
3.3 Functional pieces and what to consider
“For those who don’t know, in this section of the article, we will be talking about “glazes”, which is the shiny/matt surface on top of the clay body where the unique colours in the glaze, clay body, or underglaze painting underneath can be seen or enhanced.”
Functional pieces need to be, most of the time, “food safe” in that the “glaze” is chemically strong so that food cannot break down the “glaze” and leech into food or when you put the pottery in a dishwasher, it is also not going to break down the glaze.
Also, being food safe, a chemically strong “glaze” on a pottery piece will hold water almost indefinitely because the “glaze”, when fired, turned into glass and fully bonded together, creating, almost in effect, a solid glass surface.
So it is essential when purchasing a piece of pottery, you ask, if not already stated, “is this food safe?” and if it is a vase & you are using it to hold flowers, for instance, “will this hold water?“.
3.4 Some notes on non-functional pieces
For non-functional pieces, it is almost the wild west, anything goes. Some artists will deliberately add elements that would make a piece not food safe to get a particular colour or pattern in the glaze, which is fine when the intended use is as a non-functional piece.
This is why you should consider your intended “use“, as the artist may have intended its “use” differently.
4. Price
Handmade pottery will be more expensive than standard pottery, considering it is handmade, but at what price is too much?
Well, you have to consider a few things:
Is the glaze unique? If so, the artist would have done glaze testing many times, possibly spending many hours and kiln firings to get the result you see.
Also, if the glaze is clear, they may have put hours into hand-painting the piece.
Is it handbuilt, wheel thrown, slip mould or hand decorated?
Handbuilt being the most time-consuming, will be the most expensive as it may take hours on just one piece.
You are also buying an artist’s impression and design that is unique to them and rarely mass-produced in the quantities factory-made pottery is.
Also, handmade pottery will last a long time. If undamaged, a good piece of pottery will last a lifetime or more, unlike a factory-made piece of pottery that may fade over time and lose its colour.
5. Final notes on buying pottery
Hopefully, this article has helped you decide the type of pottery you need and some pointers on what to look out for depending on what you will use your handmade piece for in your home or office.
You can also checkout our shop where we will have some new pottery up on the shop soon!