My Dad had a dream. And so did my mother. The same dream, the same night around Easter 1952. They dreamt that if my father Philip drove to a pub in Youghal that he would find an aging potter. Which he did, and he did. Willie Greene came and taught Philip the rudiments of pottery in a greenhouse with grapes trailing from the ceiling. Willie’s family had been potters for about 200 years; this is one reason for the traditional strength of many of my father’s and my pots. Philip was an extremely gentle man, into meditation and classical music and not that interested in wealth or fame. Having learnt his trade he quietly went on to spend the second half of his life developing our little cottage industry. (Then came Stephen and Simon – but that’s a whole other story.)
In the beginning the cards were stacked against my father and his new pottery. The fashion at the time was for delicate china, with fine rims, gold and painted decorations. Along came Philip with his taste for simple, earthenware designs that he felt were much more immediate to the beauty of everyday life. It took a while for Irish people to tune into his vision of beautiful everyday pottery, and he was often advised that he could make more money by shelving his principles and filling his kilns with leprechauns and ‘more fashionable’ designs. Philip wasn’t that sort of person though – he was quietly set on his idea of what he wanted to do and he stuck to it.
Although it has evolved slightly over the years, the elegant lines of our 2 Pint Jug are rooted in a traditional pitcher shape made in the area for hundreds of years. Philip at the wheel, inset.
At first he experimented with all sorts of different colours to glaze his earthenware – purple, yellow, green – before settling on his (now iconic) black and white which meet in the middle and do something different everytime. It seemed to suit what he was trying to say, and perhaps his background as a typographer had something to do with it in the end. He wanted his pottery to be a backdrop to the food. Never out of place, never stepping forward with unnecessary flourishes or features. Everything as it should be and no more. Let me tell you that this is a deceptively difficult skill to master in design. The temptation is always to be clever, to add something new or memorable. I have spent many days, weeks and months refining a design down to what is its most useful form and my mother was a very strong influence on all of us in this regard.
Since his death in 1993 I continue to produce and develop my father’s Shanagarry range and I must say I still find it very beautiful. It has so much in common with my own range – they mix rather well on the table – but they are also very very different characters. I have often thought, looking at our pots together with Simon’s glass on my table, that they are like children of the same family.
Read more about how Philip became a Potter in Stephen’s recently launched coffee table book and history of Shanagarry Pottery: Warrior Spirit
NEXT: Read about how Stephen began his Classic Range in 1972.
Offer ends 12am (GMT) Sunday November 17 2013.
The Stephen Pearce Blog: Warrior Spirit 