New London Village Pottery has operated since 1973, and has trained and employed a number of potters over that time. Started by Daphne Large following her graduation from Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, she has typically signed all her work since with "Large - Village Pottery - PEI", as well as including the year.
Staff would find it humourous in the early days when customers would repeatedly pick up items all marked Large and say - "Do you have things in any other sizes ?"
As other potters joined the operation they would also sign their work "Village Pottery - PEI" but often add their own initials or name.
Confusion existed with a business in Nova Scotia which had opened around the same time also called Village Pottery. The addition of New London to the name helped but it was a long name to place on every piece of pottery. The Nova Scotia business eventually changed their business name which solved the issue.
In 1973 all work was in a red earthenware, but in the late 1980's a transition was made to a white clay body. In 2010 some work is made with a reddish clay but the majority is based on white.
1 comment:
Lovely to see you document this information! A history lesson in the making!
Post a Comment