Why Expensive Pottery for Your Garden?

Whether you are a garden enthusiast or if you’re like me and have gardening in your soul, no doubt you are always on the lookout for great pots—not just great shapes and styles but pottery that lasts.

English lead containers and Francesco del Re’s pure bronze pots might be the most expensive planters on the planet, but who buys plant pots made from lead or solid bronze? Guilty! Recently I wrote about Italian pottery from the commune of Impruneta and tried to debunk the myth that it is not the name of Impruneta itself which is important but the clay they use. Not all clay is equal and when the pottery you are looking at has a high price tag, don’t be afraid to ask some questions about the origin, the clay body used, the firing temperature and duration in the kiln.

Many people think we only sell expensive pottery at Eye of the Day, and we do carry high-end items, but there is the saying “You get what you pay for”.

At a local nursery, a competitor of ours sells the classic Italian double rolled rim planter with a 24” diameter for $. The product is produced by one of the largest pot manufacturers in the world, Deroma of Italy. These pots are made from inferior clay and you will find that they start to break down almost immediately.

Our high quality Italian double roll rims will last for a century or more. Our price for the same size pot is $—a big difference for a pot that might last a decade opposed to one that will last for 100 years or more. The conclusion is: high quality pottery isn’t necessarily more expensive, it just depends on where you shop and what you know about the quality of the pots.

Learn more about terracotta and how terracotta pots are made at our blog.

Related Articles:
The Truth Behind the Aged Terracotta You Buy
Inside the Pieces: Why We Love Authentic Pottery

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!

The Making of a Greek Pot

This month I’m going to discuss a tool that has captured my imagination for nearly 40 years: THE POTTER’S WHEEL. It started for me in Orange County California in 1976 at Irvine High School. For my P.E. class I was taking surfing and the instructor also taught Ceramics. It didn’t take me long to figure out that all the cool kids not only took surfing, but took Ceramics for second period, so if the waves were particularly good, the surf class would just stay and surf all the way through second period!

Thirty years later, I am still doing ceramics, primarily because of my fascination with the potter’s wheel, which is a relatively new invention in the history of pottery making. Originally functional vessels made of clay were constructed using a coiling technique. The artist would roll out “ropes” of clay and slowly, methodically, hand turn a small form by placing the coils on top of each other and pinching each coil into the one beneath it. Although this time honored method can be very slow and tedious in terms of production, there are still many cultures in the world that use this technique to create functional ceramic containers.

The potter’s wheel was born out of necessity. There are many theories, but all agree it was a matter of industrialization that brought about its creation. Recently I found a few video clips in my inbox that Brent (owner of Eye of the Day) had shot on the Island of Crete. They are an intimate look at the processes used in the production of the authentic Greek vessels Eye of the Day sells. The pieces are wheel thrown but on a wheel that is hand cranked by a potter’s assistant. The clay is made into fat coils, and added to the clay beneath it by pinching. Then the assistant spins the wheel faster and the potter begins to lift the clay into a form. It is particularly fascinating that Greece employs both old and new world techniques. They start with a slab of clay for the bottom, and work their way up by coiling, and pinching, and finally throwing the clay into shape. In the videos you see that there are multiple wheels working at once with vessels on each, in different stages of completion. When the clay needs to rest on one wheel,, the potters move in succession to each wheel down the line, until returning to the beginning to continue working toward a finished piece. These pieces are then fired and shipped directly to Eye of the Day.

We are very lucky to have this direct connection to handmade vessels for our garden design needs. The next time you are at Eye of the Day, remember what it takes for the artisans who build these vessels to deliver such an authentic and timeless piece of history for our own daily aesthetic.

The Truth Behind the Aged Terracotta You Buy

If you have read the articles by Scott Semple you now have a good understanding of what makes up terracotta pottery. From Gladding McBean’s stoneware to our Italian frost resistant earthenware containers, at Eye of the Day Garden Design Center we sell high-quality terra cotta products which last and last.

Now, what about aesthetics? Do you want your pots to last? Is it important that future generations are given your garden pots along with your jewelry, silverware and bedroom set? Many people love the patina of terracotta when it gets older and though a crumbling pot is not the same thing as “patina” they think it still looks cool.

This Italian pot from Terrecotte Olympia of Tuscany, Italy is a favorite of designers in Southern California. It is not made with frost proof Galestro clay but with Sienna clay, which is clay Americans typically find at their garden store. Olympia, like many Italian clays and other clays from which garden pots are produced, will almost immediately begin to spall and flake. Although they have a wonderful aged patina that designers love to specify in their designs, the material does not have a long life compared to pottery made from Galestro clay. The problems will be seen in Mexican and most Asian terracotta products as well.

At Eye of the Day, we hope that our retail and professional design clients will consider the investment they are making and choose terracotta for the centuries. For a further example of how these pots age and look, take a look at the following pictures of the Italian pots at the Ralph Lauren Store at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. If this is not enough to convince you, well, that’s why there are both vanilla and chocolate…something for everyone.

If you like that falling-apart look, come and see our seconds and close-out area at the store where we have lots of consigned pottery from customers who are replacing their containers with new ones. The prices are great and the look is shabby/chic. We also have remaining stock from Terrecotte Olympia at half price: it’s still half-good.

Planted pots and containers add color and visual interest to your landscape design, garden and outdoor living areas. Choosing the right pots can be a challenge with the wide variety of options available today. Consider adding beautiful Italian terracotta pottery, created to handle the elements and last for decades.

What is Galestro Clay?
Eye of the Day’s Italian terracotta pottery is fabricated from Galestro clay, fired at an extremely high temperature. It is a high-quality, dense clay known for creating particularly durable pots, frost resistant to -15 degrees Fahrenheit. Galestro clay is found in Tuscany, near the borders of Grosseto, Arezzo and Siena. Pots made from this clay are created by hand and air-dried before firing. If conscientiously maintained, this pottery will last decades.

Terracotta Pottery: Style
In addition to customary classic pottery like the beloved double roll rim, more ornate Italianate styles featuring details such as garland, rosette and leaf motifs, are available to infuse your home with old-world design. Eye of the Day’s Terre Colorate line brings clean, modern Italian design to contemporary garden style.

Whatever your garden style, with Eye of the Day’s help you can add a clear visual appeal using Italian terracotta pots.

Eye of the Day Garden Design Center provides high quality pots for decoration and for planting. Learn more about our Italian terra cotta pottery.

Author Brené Brown stated in her now famous Ted Talk, “The opposite of scarcity is not abundance, it is enough.” As we deal with the drought in our gardens, let’s not respond by grabbing more water from others or becoming despondent about losing lawns that are largely unsustainable in our climate.

Use your creativity and discover how container gardening can enliven your landscape while using little water. Let go of those garden images where plants luxuriate in 95% humidity and weekly rainfall. Let’s get started.

Destination Inspiration

Why do we love love love Italy, Mexico, Spain, or Morocco? Courtyards and shade. It’s not the turf. Most of our residences have outdoor living spaces that are too small or too close to the house to be truly enjoyed. If you are considering what to do with your thirsty landscape, think about expanding or adding terraces or courtyards adjacent to your home. Add new gathering areas in other parts of the garden. Even in a very small garden, you can create a new space at the back or side of the property and discover a new view into your landscape.

Planters: The Versatile Garden Feature

These new spaces can be paved with a variety of materials such as gravel, recycled concrete, stone or pavers. A grouping of planters can serve a variety of functions. Need some shade? Find a large pot, 42” diameter plus and add a drought tolerant small tree such as a fruitless olive. Add smaller pots with succulents or color and you have quickly filled your new garden space with pattern and detail, two aesthetic qualities that enliven our living spaces.

Planters can be adapted or reinforce the visual quality of any type of garden. If you have young children, add lots of color and tuck in a few edibles to share at the table. If you are looking for a place to escape the pace of work and family, discover the cool palette of succulents. Be brave, take a risk. Planter gardening is a great way to play with plants without breaking your budget.

So let go of some of the old ideas and embrace the challenge to live with ‘enough.’ Take a fresh look at that existing landscape and find joy in a new direction for your garden.

To view more of Puck Erickson’s work, please visit Arcadia Studio.