On Craftsmanship, or What Makes Our Pots Ours

Our pots are made to be used, based on the fundamental philosophy that pottery is both art AND craft. A pitcher may be beautiful, but if it doesn't pour well, its function changes to that of a dust collector. Spouts should pour; handles should fit comfortably in your hand; the bottom of a pot shouldn't have glaze drips or rough edges that damage your hands or your furniture. We think that the attention to functional details adds to the beauty of each pot.

Human hands form every one of our pots, through almost every single phase of creation. (We'd like to be inside a kiln during a firing, but haven't figured a way around that darn temperature problem...) Our pots are either thrown on a wheel or thrown and then altered. The salad and dessert plates are hand-decorated, molded slabs. We think handmade pots just feel better in the hand. Our glazes are made to feel great in the hand as well, and are food safe and durable. To read more about them, click here.

Over the years we've studied under and apprenticed with some of the best potters out there, so that we could learn to make pots as we think they should be. Here are some of the details we pay attention to when making our pots.

Most potters in the world mark his or her work with some identifying mark. Here's a key to the marks you'll see on our pots.

The far chop, the dolphin, belongs to our daughter. The oval brass stamp is used on our square plates and other slab-bottomed pieces. The rabbit is Nancy's chop. The sun is the studio chop, and "as" is Alex's chop. You can see the sun and "as" chops in use on the tumbler at the near left.

Here's a bowl signed by Alex. Notice the trimmed "foot," or bottom of the pot. A trimmed foot creates a nice smooth bottom that's easy on your furniture's finish. A footring also makes a perfect place to grip with your finger when you're carrying the bowl.

Watch for a full pictoral essay on the trimming process, coming here soon.

Salad plate with Cold Springs Studio stamp and Nancy's chop.

One of the other ways we finish the feet of our pots is to cut them off the wheel with a special wire and "thumb" the edges smooth. All of our drinking vessels are finished in this way, and the footed mugs have little clay feet added to them. (see below)

Feet are attached individually to the footed mugs. This step adds extra time to the making of these mugs. The big advantage to this kind of foot is that it doesn't leave a condensation ring on your table. No two footed mugs are alike in their shape or decoration. You can't get these mugs mixed up!

Handles are pulled by hand, rather than extruded by a machine or tool. We think this helps give them a more natural contour and taper that fits easily in your hand.

Alex pulls each spout by hand.

Platters come with a secure hanging loop attached to the back. Rather than relegating your beautiful platter to a cupboard, you can hang it on your wall and enjoy looking at it every day.