The Clay Authority – Debunking the Myth of Impruneta Clay 

If you don’t have a subscription to Garden Design magazine, you really should do yourself a favor and get one. This new issue, Spring 2016, has a beautifully presented article about the legendary pottery artisans of the small hill commune of Impruneta just outside of Florence.  If only as a travel guide to garden lovers, it reads like a NYT Travel section “36 Hours” of what to do and where to go in this tiny historic commune.  Of course, you always can pick up a copy at Eye of the Day.

For a long time I have complained that many Italian pottery manufacturers have falsely used the name “Impruneta” to sell their Italian pots, often at an inflated price. This wonderful article helps to debunk this misnomer and offers a wonderful guide to visitors and lovers of quality Italian garden pottery, abundant throughout the country. Besides, after pasta, what does one think of when Italy is mentioned but double rolled-rim planters?  Well, maybe shoes and olive oil might come up…

The essential part of the article was the brief mention of the actual terra cotta clay material found and used by these artisans in Impruneta. Many would have you think that Galestro clay can or is only found here and this is not the case as it is prevalent throughout the Sienese countryside. Francesco del Re was so adamant that his production of what many consider the finest Italian terracotta produced today be trademarked as “Terra Forte” clay so as not to be confused and wrongly named Impruneta. But the simple fact is still: All of the high quality, long lasting and frost proof terra cotta pottery found in Italy uses Galestro clay and does not have to be found within the commune of Impruneta.

At Eye of the Day, our main Italian terra cotta product is made with 100% Galestro clay manufactured for us by Colorobbia of Montelupo, Italy, and the largest Terracotta manufacturer in the world. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it?

What is really impressive is that our high quality, frost proof Italian terracotta will not only last for centuries, it is affordable when compared to similar pieces stamped with “Impruneta”. And please, don’t get me wrong, I have beautiful Impruneta pots, Francesco del Re pots as well as pots from other artisans of fine quality Italian terra cotta in my garden but all are manufactured using 100% Galestro Clay.  That’s why I’m the Clay Authority.

Made in California: Gladding McBean Pottery

Since 2005, Eye of the Day has carried products from Gladding McBean, the Lincoln, California based manufacturer of not only beautiful glazed artisan pottery, but of terracotta, clay pipes, tile, and much more. Their popular oil jars are best sellers at Eye of the Day and grace gardens and public installations around the country.

Lynn Haines has been working at Gladding McBean for 30 years, first in the Architectural Products division and for the last four years in Architectural Sales.  Lynn is Eye of the Day’s go-to contact when we place our customers’ special orders for a piece of Gladding McBean garden pottery and keeps us up to date on colors, timelines and (HAPPILY) when the order is ready for us to pick up.  The 140-year history of Gladding McBean intrigues her and she loves unearthing unknown facts about the company.  Gladding McBean without Lynn would be like Eye of the Day without Brent.

Did You Know? Memorable facts about GMB:

1. Charles Gladding and Peter McGill McBean founded Gladding McBean in 1875 after learning about the discovery of a cache of “potter’s clay” in Lincoln, California and soon Gladding McBean began shipping clay sewer pipe throughout California.

2. By the early 1890’s the company had expanded its line to include fire brick, roof tile, chimney pipes and ornamental garden pottery.
3. An early clay roof tile project was Stanford University. To this day Gladding McBean continues to provide its signature clay tile to Stanford University for any campus additions, as well as residential and commercial projects.
4. The State of California Library now houses over 6,500 of Gladding McBean’s late 19th and early 20th century job files which include correspondence as well as photographs of some of their most significant work.
5. The Gladding McBean plant in Lincoln, California covers 411 acres and is one of only two manufacturers of architectural clay products in the United States
6. Eye of the Day Garden Design Center is GMB’s largest distributor.

Learn more about GMB at their website and shop Eye of the Day’s collection of their pottery.

Manufacturer Photos courtesy of GMB.

Eye of the Day Installations at the Pasadena Public Library and Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Pasadena Public Library and the Garden Club

On April 23rd and 24th, the Pasadena Public Library was transformed into a botanical paradise. “Reflections – A Centennial Celebration”,  was presented by the Pasadena Garden Club. The purpose of the Garden Club of America flower show staged within the Library was to set standards of artistic and horticultural excellence. Judges from all over the United States offered their evaluation of the individual entries.

Myron Hunt,  one of the club’s founding members, was the architect for the Pasadena Public Library and the architect for the Casita del Arroyo, a community meeting house, with a water demonstration garden and butterfly sanctuary, which has been the major community project for the Pasadena Garden Club since it was conceived, designed and built as a public works project during the Great Depression.

An Eye of the Day favorite landscape architect and member of the Pasadena Garden Club, Sally Farnum of SE Farmun Associates, designed two succulent gardens for the front area of the library and chose two Gladding McBean Oil Jars in a vibrant blue green color to frame the library entry.

We think they should be there permanently!

Eye of the Day and the Buddha at The Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Recently our good friend Virginia Hayes, curator of Lotusland, sent Julie Jordan, Curator of Contemporary Art at The Santa Barbara Museum of Art to Eye of the Day to choose a container for an upcoming exhibit.  Julie chose the pot and Virginia planted it with lotus.  Now visitors entering the Museum’s historic Ludington Court will see the finished product next to which is the focus of the exhibit, a 26′ long and 6′ high inflatable, reclining Buddha.  The sculpture is the work of Lewis de Soto and is entitled Paranirvana (Self-Portrait) and the exhibit will be in place through July 31st.

We are so fortunate to be a part of this great installation!

THE OUTLIER’S GARDEN

Outlier: something that lies outside the main body or group that it is a part of; “different” than the rest, not better, not trying to fit in, just different.

This is how I describe my garden when I’m asked.

Even when big-time designers visit Eye of the Day, their jaws drop. We often hear, “I’ve never seen anything like this.” We are proud of our store and business. Most people assume our home must be some magnificent park or arboretum. We just laugh and smile and say it more resembles a garden on LSD, it’s definitely a trip.

My garden is truly my sanctuary, my go-to place; it is where I want to be all of the time. It is my laboratory, my test kitchen and I love every recipe I try. I learn about the plants, I learn how they function in different pots and soils. I propagate, I mix, I simply play all day.  I’m fortunate to have access to so many beautiful containers; yes, most are broken and rescued from the dumpster but I don’t care. I get to experiment and when the results are spectacular, I bring them back to Eye of the Day to share them.

Take a look at this Greek Pithari I planted five years ago with a miniature rose, spectacular if I say so myself.  Even landscape designers comment on it and we know how critical they can be. They make winemakers look good.

My garden is an outlier when it comes to design but I think it is far more interesting and it is definitely more alive than most.

I will be posting pictures of my private garden here on the Blog ongoing for those who are interested to see just how unarboretum-like my wonderful garden really is.

Antique Spanish Oil Jars

I get a call from Brent at Eye of the Day.  He’s stuck in traffic on the 405 freeway in L.A., and he could use a little help unloading a container that’s just arrived at the Port of Los Angeles. I get up from the potters wheel, wrap my clay in plastic and head to Carpinteria not knowing what to expect.

Typically, Eye of the Day containers are from Greece, Italy or France  and are packed to the gills, having made the arduous journey from the Mediterranean. I know from experience that shipping ceramics in any capacity can be precarious at best, so you never know what to expect when you finally open the door.  On this particular day I figured it was more of the same, the usual three-to-four-hour marathon of unloading fragile, heavy, awkward, authentic terra cotta. I was both right and wrong. To my great surprise, the container comes from Spain. Oh man, this is gonna be awesome!

When Juan cracks open the door ever so slowly, so as not to lose anything that may have shifted in transport, it is clear that this is perhaps a once in a lifetime experience. Before me lies the mother lode of antique Spanish oil jars, richly textured, impeccably handmade, and well worn from years of use. Some are stitched up with metal staples, some seemingly have bee’s wax in them, some look as if they were glazed by the hand of a two-year old, and almost all of them have some measure of olive oil still inside!

Each pot is a masterpiece. It’s as if each and every piece has its own unique story of function colliding with inherent beauty.  These oil jars are museum quality, some of the most fantastic pieces of pottery I will ever see in my life. Yours too, when you make the trip to Eye of the Day to catch a glimpse of these Spanish beauties before they are all sold!

Color in the Garden

Color would typically mean roses, daffodils, lilacs, snapdragons, daisies, you know—color.  But that’s not what we’re talking about.  We have found, through our discussions and interviews with landscape designers and architects, that there are plenty of ideas for replacing the lush lawns we no longer need.

With our ongoing garden hydration issues, though we may rip out our soft, luscious, playgrounds of lawn, we can still have the lovely grey-greens and purple-greens of succulents and other drought-hardy plants, but perhaps our eye seeks a spot of color or two, or even a restful area in the landscape of greens.

Sally Farnum of SE Farnum Associates, our go-to in the professional landscape world, has a penchant for the complementary green and blue shades of Eye of the Day’s Gladding McBean pottery.  She tucks them in her landscape designs like playful elves or boldly places them in central locations, softly bubbling with water.   But she’s not without a Daffodil yellow idea placed among stone walkways and a decomposed granite Savanna to give us a break from green and grey.

Eye of the Day’s focus is not  that of a nursery, with color available in the form of blooming plants, but is that of the special element, placed in your landscape to surprise and rest the human focus. A well placed bird bath, fountain or garden bench can also be a bright spot in your garden and give you an additional way to  enjoy it’s many pleasures.