Baked Earth: The Truth Behind Authentic Impruneta Pottery

Welcome to another edition of Baked Earth, with information about what’s happening in the world of clay, ceramics and installation pottery. This month, we would like to pop the mythical bubble concerning Impruneta pottery.

Impruneta is a commune in the province of Florence, in the Tuscany region of Italy. It has been famous for many centuries as the producer of the region’s finest terracotta, everything from tiles to garden art, to large terracotta planters. Along with the handmade nature and unparalleled craftsmanship of Impruneta terracotta lies the real secret of its success: the clay body.

It has been known for countless generations that Galestro clay is the superior material of the region. Galestro clay is extremely high in subsoil minerals, has an excellent plasticity, and due to its unusually high granitic content, can withstand sub freezing temperatures. Galestro clay yields a high quality product with great versatility and many ceramic manufacturers in the Tuscany region use Galestro, including Terrecotte San Rocco, Eye of the Day’s premier terracotta source.

Only a handful of factories produce wares actually in the commune of Impruneta and therein lies the problem. Because the potteries in the outlying communities are also using Galestro clay, or part Galestro and part local material, some producers will stamp their work with the word “Impruneta,” which can lead to retailers here in the US (either unknowingly or complicit in the process) to sell merchandise as “Impruneta terracotta,” when in fact it was not made within the boundaries of the Impruneta commune.

It’s akin to wearing a Timex and calling it a Rolex. Both are well made watches, but one has the reputation of distinct craftsmanship and is branded as such, so you are paying for the brand. It is the same with Impruneta—it has been branded by generations of superb craftsmanship and these days it is not uncommon for people in this business to use the branding of “Impruneta” to their advantage by calling it something that it is not.

So garden designers, homeowners, and landscape architects alike, be forewarned! There are only a handful of families producing authentic Impruneta terracotta in that commune, so if someone claims to be selling or installing Impruneta wares made with Galestro clay, be sure to ask them who the manufacturer is, and cross check their references. But as I have said countless times, it all comes back to the clay. And anything made with Galestro clay from the foothills of Tuscany is a sure bet as the highest quality pottery for your home.

By the way, I’m wearing a Timex…
Know your terracotta!

Earlier this year we were fortunate to meet Terra Basche of Terra Malia Designs in Santa Barbara.  She was looking for pots for the new Sonos location in Santa Barbara and found them at Eye of the Day.  We caught up with this busy woman and asked her a few questions about her blooming career.

How did you become interested in landscape design and what was your path to your current career?
I completely fell head over heels in love with succulents back in 1996 when I was attending UCSB. I remember the very visit to Santa Paula Nursery where I ohhh and ahhhed over the variety of colors, textures and structural make up of each individual one. I tried to fit as many in each fist as possible, as I headed to Ivan at check out.

I naturally have a design eye, as those on my mom’s side of the family have practiced every kind of art. I designed succulent centerpieces for my own wedding in 2001 and proceeded to design pots, weddings, gifts and mini-landscapes for friends and family until I started getting offers from others who would actually pay me to do what I loved. When my oldest daughter was born, I quit my 9 to 5 to be a mom, but began to lazily pursue my love professionally on a very part-time basis. Terra Malia Designs was my “second born” back in 2008.

My business presently is a healthy mix of artistic interiors/exteriors for residential and business and wedding floral with a healthy dose of untraditional elements including mixing succulents, tillandsias and other living props, so the plants in tablescapes can be reused and planted back into the ground, so unnecessary waste is eliminated. My business model closely mirrors my life models and beliefs about sustainability and what makes sense. Plain and simple…it feels good!

What are your clients asking you about water-wise planting and hardscaping?
Most often, clients seek me out for my succulent design. I have almost always reached for plants that require low water, as they are just as lovely as those other plants that need lots of water. Saving resources when necessary is responsible.

How do you design a plan that addresses water issues but is welcoming and pleasing to the eye?
There are so many varieties of succulents and cacti; it is easy to create a design that has enough variety for the eye. I enjoy combining succulents with grasses to add movement potential and texture. The continual exotic blooms from succulents create a softer feel, while adding interest. Using the neon green Crassula, mixed with Aloe Striata and Blue Fescue for color variation, for instance, provides the viewer with color difference so each plant can be appreciated, and the style boasts both soft and hard lines with movement in the Blue Fescue.

How did you approach the Sonos project in order to solve the physical issues of a “parking lot?”
Sonos wishes to maintain their offices in the city of Santa Barbara…which means convenience for their employees, but at the same time, means not as much potential for green space. Terra Malia Designs has helped to transform parking lots, patios and rooftops into greener spaces where a more natural environment can be enjoyed.

The Sonos headquarters, located at 614 Chapala Street, has a staff parking lot that backs up to the building. Sonos wanted to create a patio area where staff could go to have an outdoor meeting or sit and have lunch. Terra Malia Designs utilized the Cassetta Liscia Atlas Italian terracotta pots from Eye of the Day placed side-by-side to create a barrier between the parking lot and the patio zone. Visually, the barrier is essential to differentiate the spaces and as the planting has filled in, it has created a space that is more pleasing to spend time.

To see more of Terry Basche’s work, please visit Terra Malia Designs 

THE ROGUE GARDEN: Brent’s Test Kitchen

Hey! All you hoity toity landscape designers—this blog’s for you!

When my professional landscape design friends come to my home garden for the first time, they are usually thrown off balance by what they see: there are pots and containers everywhere.  I constantly rescue or buy plants to try out in our pots to show how they work together in the landscape and also to see how a plant performs in a container versus the ground.

While my garden is a “test kitchen”, it serves as inspiration for Eye of the Day as well as for the genetic sequence I received from my Portuguese great grandfather. He was a truck farmer who indentured himself in 1868 to the Campbell Estate in Hawaii to grow sugarcane. I love putting my hands in the dirt.

My garden at home has helped us at Eye of the Day in many ways. We have learned that French Anduze pottery must be sealed or the glazing starts to fall off almost immediately. So, we tell everyone that if you purchase French Anduze, you must have it sealed to protect the glazing.

Something that every design professional should know about is how to properly plant pots and especially large pots. Pots that have diameters larger than 30” usually have plant material that starts big or will grow large due to the space for more root ball. But after a period of years and sometime climate conditions, a large plant needs to be removed from its container and trimmed and replaced. By replicating these situations in my own garden, I have formulated successful service practices for performing operations which allow clients to benefit by getting the most from their purchase of our products.

Also in my garden, there are odd experimental items like “vertical wall” planters and terra cotta shelf units for the patio. 25 years of business has resulted in a new product. Whether damaged in the container coming from Italy or through rough handling here at Eye of the Day, we take the broken pieces of pottery and produce Tumbled Terra Cotta.

Yes, my garden at home looks like a madman’s landscape but, I love it and I love spending time in this intimate setting surrounded by the products, plants and ideas that fuel my life.

Let me know if you’d like to visit.

Brent, the Rogue Gardener

5 Tips for Winterizing Your Terracotta Pottery

To many people winterizing terra cotta pottery may seem like a completely irrelevant subject for discourse, but consider that you can add this information to your knowledge just IN CASE it ever gets cold enough to freeze. This is an actual problem for people with terracotta pots in parts of the US , which is why you don’t see great pottery everywhere.

There ARE steps that can be taken to help prevent your pots from cracking when old man winter whips through your garden. The goal is to eliminate the possibility of water being absorbed, frozen and thus causing the pot to crack.

1. Lift the pot from the ground by placing it on pot feet, wooden blocks or pieces of stone. This will allow air to circulate beneath the pot.
2. Seal the pot with a penetrating sealer, such as one used to seal slate floors and swimming pools
3. Remove plants and soil from the pot, as the soil will absorb water, freeze, expand and can cause cracking
4. Cover the pot with plastic sheeting to avoid contact with water
5. Most fool-proof: move it inside

Much depends on the quality of the terra cotta as well.  Eye of the Day’s is the highest quality, high fired Italian terracotta, made from Galestro clay. Our pots, manufactured by Terrecotte San Rocco, are guaranteed frost proof to minus 15 degrees. It helps to know that if a pot is high-fired, the absorption rate is lower, and so the risk of cracking in freezing weather is reduced.

You may need this information some day. Maybe.

Photo Credit: Terracotta Pots, Creative Commons, My Container Garden After Winter by Rachel James is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Book Review: The Inspired Landscape: Twenty-one leading landscape architects explore the creative process by Susan Cohen

I planned on liking this book before I opened it, but it had me at the dedication:

“For landscape architects – whose works, grounded in the practical, are elevated by their imaginations.”

Since we opened our business in 1994, we have met many, many landscape architects and some have been using Eye of the Day as their source for Italian terracotta, French Anduze pottery, Greek pottery and American concrete since our first year. This is a well researched book that I wish I could give every one of those loyal customers.  The Inspired Landscape by Susan Cohen features professionals from around the world and with drawings, plans, photographs and resources attempts to portray the creative process experienced personally by these individuals through specific projects.

The landscape architect forms a plan by taking cues from topography, light, client style and natural conditions.  Included in this book are designs of public places, botanical gardens, modern landscapes, country homes and on top of structures.  Cohen spots and magnifies the initial flicker of creativity and follows it through to the resulting design.  This book is a series of investigations into the inspiration and process of these twenty one specific designers, and a great resource for anyone looking for insight into and inspiration from landscape design.

And this is Interesting about Susan Cohen, too: besides being a landscape architect herself, she is a teacher and lecturer on landscape design and history and is the coordinator of the Landscape Design Program at the New York Botanical Garden where she founded the Landscape Design Portfolio Series.

What’s Behind Eye of the Day’s Logo?

DAISY. DAY’S EYE. EYE OF THE DAY.

When Brent and I began daydreaming about a name for our business, our daughter Daisy was seven and our lives revolved around her (THAT hasn’t changed).  We wanted to incorporate “Daisy” into the name and decided to go for the old English meaning: Day’s Eye, for the resemblance of the flower to a stylized sun.  And as Daisy was the eye of our lives, Eye of the Day was born.

An overnight with our best friends, Robin, Cassidy and Heidi, found us talking about a logo for Eye of the Day. The evening grew late as we sipped our wine and played with ideas and soon graphic designer Robin had come up with a circular logo featuring the top half as a sun and the lower half as a daisy, split horizontally in the middle with the words “Eye of the Day” bisecting the halves. Without question, this was perfect for us.

Our logo has undergone a few changes in the past seventeen years; a few different graphic designers have tweaked it here and there.  The newest evolution is used on our Look Book, embossed on the cover and on the back and graces our new business cards as well.  In fact, we are using it everywhere!   We started our new business with a basic, interesting design and over time it has morphed into a more complex mixture of words and graphics, but its simple and meaningful heart remains true: the eye of the day still remains our Day’s Eye.