Anyone who knows me will know how much I love well crafted ceramics. In 1985, I completed a law degree which I really didn't enjoy - I think I spent more hours sleeping in the law library than reading. Apart from the friends I made there and my partner whom I met at an interview for a place in a self-help housing co-operative (rent £1 a week!) it was not a good choice of study for me.
On finishing, I immediately signed up for a diploma in Ceramics which I absolutely loved. I found the work fascinating, the hand building and throwing, the development of glazes, the application of marks, burnishing leather hard clay. I especially enjoyed turning the pots I'd thrown, that glorious ribbon of clay flying off the tool, the final shaping, the creation of a foot of perfect proportion. I wrote several pieces for Ceramic Review, attended Pottery Camps in West Wales, sold my work in Craft Council galleries. It was lovely work and endlessly creative. Then with 3 children under 5, I decided it was too much to be making for exhibitions and that I would take a break and come back to it later.
Instead I developed my love of plants and all the knowledge to be learnt and now decades later I'm still learning and I still love it and I still haven't returned to making pots although it pleases me that on my marriage certificate my occupation is listed as potter.
So when I did the plastics audit at the Apothecary, the idea of removing every plastic bowl has become a mission to invest in ceramics. I started with Mason Cash and the pancheons of my childhood and then this week I've been off the island and at my sister's house collectiong the Sloes and Bullace for Wild Eve.
We decided to visit Whichford Pottery which is still a small family owned business. I knew they produced the most amazing flower pots but I was less familiar with the tableware. As I wandered outside, there on a bench were 5 lipped bowls made by Adam Keeling, son of the founder Jim, and a master potter and brilliant thrower. Each was slightly different, all were gorgeous and so I bought them all.
They will be perfect for making our creams, each holding about 3 litres. Now I just have to work out how to get them home with no vehicle, a dog and a rucksack.
I've also started commissioning ceramics for us. Some of you will have one of Pam Matthew's beautiful cups, they perfectly capture this landscape.
We also have cups made by Skio pottery in Skye especially for our Ritual Cacao - later this month we will also have matching bowls which I'm very excited about. Matching form to function is so important - the Cacao cups are exactly the right size for a therapeutic dose of the Cacao and instantly 'cuppable' in the hands.
We also had a few soap dishes made by Michelle Lowe which fit our soon to be released shampoo bars perfectly. They came in 4 designs - Dandelion (my favourite), Brambles, Calendula and Sea Buckthorn.
Going forward, in early November we will have a lifestyle page on the website so I can offer you some of the beauties I find on my travels. It will comprise mainly ceramics and textiles. Our seaweed printed Harris tweed shawls are progressing slowly but surely and I'm looking forward to sharing those with you soon.
These are such exciting times at the Apothecary, marrying other traditional crafts with our work feels really positive and ensuring that we find people who approach their work in the same way as us is incredibly important.
We won't have big volumes of anything as you would expect so there will be quick turnover of this part of our work, but I'm very happy about that - the most special things made by hand take time and aren't made on a large scale. I think they are all the more precious for that.