Our Story

 New Albion Clayworks About Our Story
 

The Story

Eric and I (Maria) met in Istanbul in 2008 (in spite of having been on the same college campus the previous Fall, go figure) and, wasting no time, we married in 2009. Our early years saw us banging around a little town in Upstate, NY creating, learning and eager. Then God saw fit to plop us down in Iringa, Tanzania to work with an organization called Neema Crafts. Neema (pronounced 'naay-ma') is an amazing organization that provides people living with disabilities vocational training and employment opportunities at their craft workshop and to practically speak to this marginalized people group of God’s love for them. The folks at Neema are an incredible bunch of people with more ability than you can imagine working together to literally build dreams and reverse the stigma surrounding disability. We were honored to be a small part of this project and to taste the brick and mortar of dream building alongside this team.  

In 2016 we felt that it was time to move on to the next chapter of life (and I also became pregnant with our daughter Illa), so we returned home to the US in March of 2017. Dream building had got into our blood, however.

Through years of making and pedaling pottery in our evenings and weekends and then through developing a truly carved from the earth pottery during our time in Tanzania an idea had formed. We wanted to build a company that puts beautiful, functional art into the everyday moments of life. Bring the pot down off the dusty shelf and into the beating heart of the kitchen. Experience art; the elemental nature of raw clay, a thumbprint, human connection in your morning cup of joe.

Design

We have worked hard designing pots that are made to be usedDesign is a lengthy process of imagination, hard work, thinking (and rethinking), finding parameters, reaching higher and deeper, considering everything, cutting your losses, and try try again. It is the most gratifying feeling when you come out on the other side with a design that hits the mark. We design for beauty and for practicality; for an aesthetic that is at once striking and yet visually versatile enough to settle into the landscape of a unique home, a feel that is as satisfying to touch, hold, and use as it is to look at, and a serviceability that makes these stackable, sturdy, comfortable dishes the first ones you reach for.

Process

Pottery is an age old tradition that has built into itself many different techniques and technologies. Our pots are hand thrown on a wheel, each one is individually made right here in our workshop in Western NY. Each piece is truly unique. We fire to stoneware temperatures and hand dip our glazes. This process allows us to produce beautiful homeware in small batches, standardized into lovely product lines but not so standardized as to erase the handmade personality of each vessel or the evidence of the maker. Our clay, glazes and firing style also mean that our dishes are 100% food safe, and dishwasher and microwave safe.