Since 1793
We’re excited to announce we have a new Battle of Hastings figure launching for the first time in quite awhile, so watch this space and just say the word if you’d like to know about it as soon as it goes public.
To celebrate House & Garden kindly featuring us in their May issue we’ve made a little film to show our Dalmatians being painted. These are the perfect showcase for our skilled hand-painting team’s freehand brushwork, and what could be better than Dalmatians and their spots to remind our collectors that no two pieces of Rye Pottery are ever the same!
Large thanks to H&Gs Rémy Mishon for including us – you can see more of the Dalmatians here and you can see H&Gs article here
Belated but very large thanks to luxury and boutique travel club Mr & Mrs Smith for naming Rye Pottery their “what to buy” if you visit Rye.
It’s an incredibly comprehensive write up by Kate Weir and really manages to suggest things that often only locals would know. Not least describing us as “straddling the line between style and whimsy”, which to all who know our work pretty much sums us up!
If you’re planning a trip you can read the full feature click here as it’s packed with ideas of where to stay, eat and what do while you’re in beautiful Rye.
60 hours more like!
Click this link or the photo on the left to watch our short film
We did consider making a film that was hours and hours long in a Stanislavski stylee but decided that would probably test even the most committed of our customers, unless they were looking for a sleeping aid.
So here is a speeded up version of how a simple ball of clay becomes one of our elegant Cottage Stripe Bowls.
Given Ferrari charge £15k for a stencil sprayed car badge, our stripey pots are a steal given the years of experience it takes to throw on a wheel like this, let alone learn to paint 14cm stripes freehand…
Large thanks to National Geographic Traveller UK Magazine for suggesting a visit to Rye & Rye Pottery in their recent feature “7 seaside towns [that] are perfect for a day trip from London by train“.
Critically the piece was highlighting what great venues the seven towns were all year round and not just in the warmer months. Alongside Rye, the other suggestions for a visit were Deal & Folkstone in Kent, Southend-on-Sea & Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex and Brighton, Hastings & Rye in Sussex.
If you’d like a great genuine travel review on all the above places you can read the article online here and our thanks go to journalist Elinor Davies.
If you’re planning a trip to this part of the Kent/Sussex border the good people at Inside Kent Magazine were kind enough to feature a well researched, detailed and current (Aug 2025) write up on Rye.
It’s a thoughtful list of some of the fab places to stay, eat and visit when you’re here. We were of course delighted to be included in the Shopping section.
So if you’re planning a trip our way this one is a must read. Our thanks to journo Mia Chapman @mia.sidewaysmedia who was kind enough to bring us hard copy of the magazine in person!
You can read the full write-up by clicking here
We were thrilled to discover that a large collection of our Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales figures, designed by Biddy & Tarquin Cole, are currently on display at a major exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey.
Horsepower at the Rahmi M. Koç Museum, explores the relationship between people, horses and power across cultures – Celebrating twin loves at the heart of the collection that belongs to one of Turkey’s wealthiest citizens: Horses and cars!
Featuring art and antiquities from the 2nd century B.C. to the present, which have been collected and curated from across the globe to celebrate this esteemed museum’s 30th anniversary, the exhibition traces the role of horses in art and engineering and also contains an impressive number of vintage supercars amongst the work on display.
We were proud to see a little piece of Rye Pottery storytelling celebrated on the world stage. And even prouder to read reviews – “the most interesting showcase [were] the figures from The Canterbury Tales” and “Porcelain figures on horseback were amongst the most popular items”.
Proof, if you need it, that your Rye Pottery will be admired globally for generations to come.
The 6 month exhibition runs until June 10th. The Museum itself was inspired by the Henry Ford Museum in the US and is dedicated to the history of industry, transport and communications and you can find out more about it if you click here
If you’d like to see the full set of Pilgrims from Chaucer Collection click here
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Watch as the face on this Blue Rye Rabbit comes to life as it’s carefully hand-painted by one of our talented team.
We know it looks brown but after braving over 1000 degrees in our kiln it will actually be blue.
If you’d like to see the other colours we paint this figure in do click here.
We were excited to be featured as House & Garden’s Specialist of the month with a feature written by Ticky Hedley-Dent and stylish photographs by Dean Hearne. They were both lovely to spend time with and delightfully curious about the complexities of making pots every day. Do click here if you’d like to read the full article.
We’re excited to share a stunning hand-painted lamp-shade collaboration with designer, branding guru and Condé Nast legend Timothy Rennie @epiphany51
Taking inspiration from the shape, colour and hand-painted pattern on our Mid-century Modern Table Lamp in Black Astrakhan, the shade has been designed specially for us and features an organic, flowing Rye Harbour-inspired Seaweed design.
Hand-painted onto a luxury silk shade, you can find out more if you click here where there are lots more pics.
If you want to know more about Epiphany51 click here
Belated thanks to SheerLuxe magazine for a great piece on how to spend a day in Rye. They’ve written a small but expertly curated guide to some of the best places to eat, stay, shop and visit. And who wouldn’t want to take the advice of one of the UK’s leading online lifestyle magazines?
Thank you to writer Sherri Andrew for including us, you can read the whole guide here
Thank you to Country Living Modern Rustic who were kind enough to feature two of our vases as “Objects of Desire” in their latest Issue #25.
Shown here are our two large and tall Mid-Century Modern V11 vases, also available in small and an array of colours and decorations, click here for more.
Styled by the amazing Alaina Binks @abinksstylist with pics by photographer Nato Welton @natowelton It’s such an inspiring publication, designed as a keeper so go out and grab a copy if you can. https://www.countryliving.com/uk/
Thank you Country & Town House for the shout out for our new decoration “Breakwater” which we developed in collaboration with Turner Contemporary’s top team to mark their wonderful new spring exhibition – Beyond Form Beyond Form: Lines of Abstraction, 1950-1970.
Lovely feature in Country & Town House on the best things to do in Margate.
We’re delighted to announce a creative partnership with Turner Contemporary to introduce a striking new design –Breakwater.
Initially conceived by Wally Cole MBE and completed by our current creative director Josh Cole and illustrator Laura Gill, the Breakwater design has been brought to life in a series of ceramic table lamps, utensil pots & vases and will be sold exclusively in the Turner Contemporary shop, Margate until early May 2024.
The collaboration coincides with the launch of Turner’s spring exhibition – Beyond Form: Lines of Abstraction, 1950-1970, which opened earlier this month, and focuses on abstraction in a post-WWII period.
Once the Rye Pottery Design Team understood the nature of the exhibition we felt instinctively Breakwater could be a great match. The original pattern was developed and trialled in the mid 50s using a very different colour palette, but the randomness of the hand-painted design was difficult to master and ultimately too time consuming.
Working in tandem with Turner director Clarrie Wallis and leadership from the gallery, the Rye Pottery Design Team re-imagined the little known 1950s pattern, which was originally inspired by the weathered wooden groynes on the pebble beaches, into a bold new hand-painted colourway. The new surface decoration features raw, earthy tonal shifts, layered lines and sgraffito, with the colours taking inspiration from the exhibition’s title and abstract markings from key pieces within it, as well as the Rye Pottery archive and our shared coastal geography.
The Mid-Century Modern aesthetic of our shapes and the abstract style of the hand-painted design complement the exhibition perfectly.
Clarrie Wallis, Director of Turner Contemporary, said: “Turner Contemporary is excited to partner with Rye Pottery on a new collection inspired by the 1950s and 60s – a golden era in the pottery’s history. This collaboration honours a significant period in the decorative arts and resonates beautifully with our ‘Beyond Form’ exhibition, which explores the emergence of post-war abstraction and its role in shaping a new period of creative expression.”
Turner Contemporary believes the partnership with Rye Pottery enriches the gallery’s offering and exemplifies its commitment to supporting the vibrant community of craftspeople and the creative industries in the Southeast. It says the collaboration is an opportunity for them to champion traditional craftsmanship and innovative design, furthering the gallery’s role in nurturing the rich cultural landscape of the region.
Find out more about the exhibition Beyond Form: Lines of Abstraction, 1950-1970 here www.turnercontemporary.org and click here if you’d like buy this decoration.
Thanks to House & Garden and Ticky Headley-Dent for the lovely feature on Rye Pottery’s “exciting collaboration” with Turner Contemporary in the form of our newest design “Breakwater”.
The new collection reimagines an original 1950s abstract design by Wally Cole, which was inspired by the striking pebbled beaches and weather-beaten groynes so common in Sussex and Kent.
H&G desribes the newhand-painted surface decoration as “distinctly modern, yet hark[ing] unmistakably back to their heritage… a wonderful example of British craftsmanship.”
Country Living has given us a fab start to the year by naming one of our Lamp Bases “Editor’s Choice” in their first Emporium of 2024. The whole section had a focus on artisanal gifts from some of their favourite makers and small businesses so we were in good company too.
“Established in the late 1700s, family-owned Rye Pottery has a rich history of crafting beautiful ceramics. This lamp is no exception, showcasing their skill in blending past and present by combining mid-century design with centuries old techniques.”
This beautiful photo was styled by Country Living’s Alaina Binks with photography by Nato Weldon.
The table lamp pictured shows our Cascade sgraffito decoration in Denmark Green. You can see more of our Lighting here.
We’re delighted to say that our quirky freehand-painted Bug Tiles for Kitchens & Bathrooms were featured in the September edition of The English Garden magazine. Even when we’re not featured it’s a lovely glossy magazine to treat yourself to, always calming and inspiring.
Their website is here if you want to sneak a peak and if you’re tempted by our tiles you can see the wide range that we paint and print by clicking here.
Thrilled to be in House & Garden’s must keep annual “Kitchens & Bathrooms” supplement. Out now (June) but do note it’s the July edition you need to buy.
Our Mid-century Modern lamp bases in Denmark Cascade were a small part of the amazing Carroline Riddell scheme on a Manor Barn she and her team renovated. Even if you’re only looking it’s worth a few minutes to enjoy the scale and beautiful simplictiy one of our favrouite interior designers has brought to the project. You can read more about Caroline and this specific project here.
But if you’re considering an upgrade or even just a bit of a spruce this month’s House & Garden supplement will be invaluable to have on the coffee table. It’s packed full of inspiration and stunning ideas with a host of different styles, suppliers and designers and interior designers on every page. Come on you know you want to. You can click here to read a bit more about it.
We’re so grateful to Lucy Cleland and the Country & Town House team for writing a feature about Rye Pottery’s latest figures – the Lion & Unicorn tattoo-inspired bookends.
If you’re interested in an update on how the design inspiration behind our unusual new pieces, well, it’s a cracking read and it’s free online if you click here!
Our thanks to Homes & Antiques Magazine for including us in their latest “Wishlist – Collectables” feature, marking the Coronation.
With some of our past designs in museums around the world – not least the V&A’s Ceramics Collection and the British Museum’s Museum of The Home – it’s very rewarding to have our very latest Lion & Unicorn Bookend figures included in their roundup for heirlooms commemorating the Coronation.
We were one of just 8 items picked and it was a testament to the ceramics industry that we were alongside four other high quality ceramic designs from Bridie Hall, Spode, Emma Bridgewater & Moorcroft. Thanks Homes & Antiques.
Our thanks to the team at The Wealden Times for featuring our New Tattoo inspired Lion & Unicorn bookends in their latest “The Must List”. To see them in all their glory click here.
Lion & Unicorn Bookends – To mark the significant changes in the monarchy we’ve decided to launch a more unusual Royal tribute to coincide with the King Charles’ Coronation. Featuring the incredible freehand brushwork of our talented team, we’ve named the pair of figures “State of the Union“, inspired by the Royal Coat of Arms, tattoo art and the challenges facing 21st Britain, not least the Monarchy.
An elegant addition to any home, Republicans and Monarchists alike. Sold separately or as a pair. Click here to see tons more pics.
We’re loving the buzz around the launch of “The Wife of Bath: A Biography” by Oxford Uni Chaucer specialist Professor Marion Turner. The book is published by Princeton University Press & has had incredible reviews. And lots of you will know that we love anything that celebrates & demystifies the many women who have been airbrushed from history.
So to celebrate we filmed our very own Wife of Bath figure being painted so you can see how we bring our own amazing version of this renowned medieval woman to life. We know lots of our collectors love seeing how we actually make and paint things here, so this is a short 1 minute insight into Chaucer’s most famous pilgrim being hand-decorated by one of our talented team – using freehand brushwork. You can see how the colours change after she’s been fired for the second time.
Discover more about the professor’s book by visiting the Princeton Uni website here and if you’d like to see more about the 37 figures in our hand-made Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales Collection do click here.
Large thanks to the team at House & Garden who were so kind as to include us in one of their 2022 Christmas Gift Guides.
And guess what they picked? Well our timeless Cottage Stripe Design of course. As many of you will know we nearly always have a long waiting list for this decoration and it remains a firm favourite with every age group – in some cases we’re now supplying the fourth generation with our stripey pots!
some families we are now suppling the fourth generation!
Knowing that your straight lines have been hand-painted by a human being is a thing to behold every time to use one of our pots and if you’re in Rye, you may even catch someone actualy painting them in front of you.
You can see all things Cottage stripe here. And the H&G Gift Guide is here.
An online film about our unusual Sussex Wedding gift, the Sussex Pig has been unveiled by Rye Arts Festival. The 12 minute short is a gentle & thoughtfully constructed piece explaining our pigs’ extraordinary story and revealing exactly how these unusual pottery drinking vessels are made.
Our ceramic Sussex Pigs have been hand-made & hand painted using freehand brushwork since the 1800s, with over 12 hand processes used to create them. Created by arts & culture filmmaker Alisdair Kitchen, the film launched this week as part of Rye Arts Festival’s Digital Fringe.
We’re enormously grateful to Al and the Rye Arts Festival team for choosing us. We really enjoyed working with him and can’t believe he’s made such a strong testament to our amazing team and quite how much time and skill is involved in every single piece of pottery we make.
Do click on the film above to find out about the history of our crazy wedding pigs and how they’re made entirely by hand. And if you’re tempted to have one yourself, you can see the full range by clicking here.
We’ve often worked with interior designer Caroline Riddell and her team, but we were so pleased to see the finished result of one recent project in particular. It’s a barn conversion with an adjoining 17th-century house in Berkshire and the result is stunning.
Do take a look at the House & Garden article featuring the project – it’s available online to read and will give you a good feeling for Caroline as well as the property itself. Our small part was to supply two of our hand-made & painted Mid-Century Modern lamp bases in our Cascade decoration in Denmark Green.
Do click on this link to see it all – it’s a really comfortable yet stylish look that’s created a “home” rather than a showpiece and our lamp bases look amazeballs if we do say so ourselves. Pics by Simon Brown and Scheme by Caroline Riddell Interiors.
A bit late to the party, what with the run-up to Christmas and all that, but we were chuffed to bits to be named one of The Guardian‘s Top Ten Independent Shops in the UK at the start of December. And the reason it’s a particularly big compliment is that all the shops featured were voted for by the newspaper’s readers.
They were looking for, ahem, quirky places, so our totally bonkers approach to working and making a living finally came good.
Do click here to read the article on The Guardian’s website and discover the other fab places suggested for shopping inspiration. And if you like the look of our Mid-Century Modern lamp base in the photo then click here.
Our thanks to Country Life who featured Rye Pottery in a knowledgeable article about regional potteries – not just us! It was written by the thoughtful journalist, Matthew Dennison. Thank you to all. To read the article click right here
Our thanks as ever to the Homes & Gardens team for giving us a great boost by featuring our Mid-century Modern lamp base in their September issue. Particular thanks go to Jo Bailey.
H&Gs “How to Emulate the interiors of some of the world’s chicest hotels” saw our LB1 lamp suggested as a way to recreate the amazing five-star style of the Four Seasons Hotel in Hampshire, originally designed by Martin Brudnizki Design Studio.
The exact design they featured is ourLB1 Medium featuring our Soho Stripe Design in Denmark Green with a natural linen drum shade. This is a genuine shape from our Mid-Century archive given a contemporary twist with a new decoration bringing the 20th & 21st centuries together. A bold, sculptural statement light.
Click here if you’d like to see some more pics or order one
14th May 2020
Yet another apology for our radio silence. We hope you are all safe and well.
During these unpleasant & insane times we’ve had our own little micro crisis to deal with and are very sad to announce the death of Biddy. The face of Rye Pottery for many, many years and the epitomy of a colourful character. But also a devoted, skilled & much loved wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend.
Sudden illness (non Covid) and then grief have spanned the last two months, so we haven’t felt very social. Even virtually. Sorry. But Rye Pottery is still open online, our team are safe and we’ll be back in full force soon.
We are holding a necessarily tiny family cremation this Friday lunchtime and hope that those that wish can raise a glass at some point in the day, wherever you are in the world.
To a truly inspirational woman.
Rest in peace Bid.
Suitably Bonkers for Rye Pottery … and suitably last minute!
What started as a few baubles for a window display has quickly escalated. These are fun one-offs at the moment, hand-painted and individually singed by the decorator – we’ve been having some fun with them if we’re honest and the whole team has taken part.
Pick n mix from the tree in store, or order here from our seven favourites so far.
Please click through here to see more pics and order or email us at sales@ryepottery.co.uk and say which you’d like by using numbers from left to right!
Lovely shots of our Mid Century Modern Lamp the LB1 in Country Living’s quarterly Modern Rustic Magazine 13. Our thanks as ever to @abinksstylist for the thoughtful styling (wonderful textures) and also to photographer @natowelton for the fab pic. The LB1 is featured here in our hand-painted Cascade decoration in Denmark Green. Click here to see the full range of decorations we produce.
This was the eighth unique bar & restaurant crafted by the award-winning boutique group Darwin & Wallace. Based on the waterside in Canary Wharf, No 35 was designed to continue the group’s tradition of creating a comfortable sanctuary away from the fast pace of urban life. Detail and quality craftsmanship is key to everything this group creates – if it’s not good enough for your home, it’s not good enough full stop.
Our mid-century Modern LB1 lamp base is featured throughout the space adding a soft, cosy glow with the natural linen shades, while the Denmark Green of our hand-painted Soho Stripe and Cascade decorations tie in with the gentle palette of greens, greys, dusty pinks and natural wood with fresh vegetation used throughout the space.
Do check No 35 out if you’re in town and need a relaxing place to stop, it’s a lovely bar and we were thrilled to be involved.
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of a man very significant in Rye Pottery’s continued existence. The Hastings and Rye Observer wrote a concise little obituary printed about Quin – a man we will miss dearly both as a family and a business. May 2019
Chuffed to have The LB1 Mid Century Modern ceramic lamp base picked for the Living Etc Agenda pages.
Do check out the June 2018 edition.
Our thanks to Country & Town House magazine and The Insider team for featuring The LB1 – our Mid Century Modern Ceramic Lamp base in their May 2018 Edition.
We’re very pleased to see Soho House’s latest venture unveiled publicly and even more pleased to see our specially commissioned Mid Century Modern Lamp Bases in situ!
Their latest hotel and member’s club is in London’s Shepherd’s Bush, housed in the former BBC HQ that used to flash up on the telly.
You know – the iconic round 60’s “doughnut” building with the famous sculpture of Helios in the centre.
Shown here: The LB1 Medium in Black Tracery
Choosing our medium LB1, we were asked to create 92 table lamps, 2 for each bedroom. The Soho House interiors team of Daisy Bere & Linda Boronkay first picked one of our own revamped 1960’s patterns (Black Astrakhan) and then complimented it with 2 further mid century-esque designs alongside one specifically developed for the project – the all new Soho Stripe.
You can view our full range of lamps by clicking here, but for now here’s another pic of one of the cosy White City House rooms. Oh and did we mention there’s a swimming pool on the roof. With a bar…..
This picture: The LB1 medium in Denmark Green Cascade and Denmark Green Soho Stripe
All images courtesy of White City House
Anyone for Cheese?
We’ve just finished a great commission for one of England’s finest wine makers – Gusbourne.
They’re just over the border in Kent and on top of producing delicious booze they’ve now launched a new Discovery Tour & Tasting. So if you visit their new restaurant “The Nest” at Appledore, you may well find yourself supping something delicious, while nibbling something local … from one of our beautiful terracotta plates.
Do pop in to see us if you make the trip & check out Gusbourne and their wines by clicking here.
Continuing Rye Pottery’s long tradition of marking significant Royal occasions, we’ve produced a limited-edition run of commemorative tankards to mark the upcoming wedding of Prince Harry & Meghan Markle.
Hand-thrown & hand-decorated in soft Cobalt Blue on a simple white glaze, they are 8-8.5cm high.
These little mugs have been designed to tie-in with previous pieces produced, particularly those made for the wedding of Prince William & Catherine and Prince Charles & Princess Diana, for whom we were official suppliers to St Paul’s Cathedral.
Available from stock or to order, or in our shop in Rye where you might like to emulate Princess Diana’s late Mum and snap any seconds we might have.
Our last few tweaks to the final of four majolica decorations chosen by the Soho House Interiors team for their Mid Century White City House project.
Practice makes perfect.
New screen-printed tiles from our own archive designs.
These are some of Tarquin Cole RCA’s most notable past tile designs – albeit in a slightly different inglaze medium.
Suitable for kitchens, bathrooms, fireplaces and worktops.
Currently available to order in Cobalt Blue on a White glaze, with minor variations and imperfections reflecting the tricky hand-made nature of the technique.
Repeat one design or use all 12, it’s up to you.
152x152mmx6mm
After a visit from the Soho House interior design team, Rye Pottery is looking forward to working with them on a grand new Mid Century Hotel opening for 2018.
Shapes agreed…Pattern Development pics to follow soon …
Welcome to the formal unveiling of our Mid Century Modern LB1 Large Lamp Base.
An iconic shape from our archive redesigned with a contemporary decorative twist in six different designs.
Collection designed & conceived by Josh Cole.
Please CLICK HERE for more details
Jamie Oliver’s foodie mag “Jamie” included Rye in their recent guide to the best Gourmet Getaways in the UK – and quite right too we say.
Many thanks to journo Claire Nelson for including Rye Pottery and a pic of one of our decorating team hand-painting one of our sheep.
It’s not the kind you can eat though Jamie…
We’re very pleased to say that Margaret Howell in London are stocking our Mid Century Modern LB1 large Lamp Base in two different decorations- All White Tracery & Black Astrakhan.
Do TAKE A LOOK at the full range of designs here.
The Telegraph Magazine. With many thanks to journos Jessica Doyle and Talib Choudhry for including us in their piece about three British, family-run ceramics companies.
Thanks to Country Living Magazine and Deputy Home Design Editor Alaina Binks for including our Cottage Stripe Little Bowls in their latest autumnal Emporium section. For more details click here
To commemorate Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebrations Rye Pottery are producing a limited edition hand-made & hand-painted 10 inch plate.
Designed by Tarquin Cole this piece is intricately hand-painted in our classic Blue-Green. The result we believe is an elegant plate that works well as a standalone piece but also ties in with all our designs over the decades for those of our collectors who have them all!
New Collectors do note that Blue Green is a traditional Rye Pottery colour that’s been mixed & by us for over 60 years. This colour produces incredible results & allows us to add immense depth and delicacy to the design using just a single colour. That also means each piece reacts differently in every firing of the kiln so all the plates we paint are guaranteed to differ slightly to this photograph!
These beautiful plates will be painted to order for each customer. Our order schedule is currently running at an estimated 6-8 weeks until delivery.
Please email us at sales@ryepottery.co.uk or give us a call on +44 (0) 1797 223038 if you would like to order one.
Landscape Magazine were kind enough to interview one of us for a feature in their January/February 2016 issue.
We’ve been very touched to hear from our Collectors around the world of sightings of our Dragonfly Tiles and Cottage Stripe Tableware – courtesy of telly show Grand Designs and James Strangeways’ simple but stylish new build on Romney Marsh. So far we know our work has been seen in Denmark, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, please do let us know if you spot us anywhere else – we’re small enough that keeping tabs is hard as we keep up with making pots. And our talented paintress Julia Catt is enjoying her global fame!
We’d also like to say we were very pleased to see a wonderful interview with James Strangeways closer to home – in Sussex Life Magazine. It’s well worth a read, not least because the interview was after the television programme actually went out on Channel 4. You can read the piece if you click here.
Our hand-painted Dragonfly Tiles and striped bowls featured in Grand Designs Magazine as part of a wonderful feature on James Strangeways’ unique waterside house on Romney Marsh
Channel 4’s Grand Designs
Rye Pottery & our Dragonfly Tiles were featured on an episode of Grand Designs on September 16th. It was a Godsmark Architects build for James Strangeways next to a Romney Marsh Canal. Our hand-glazed & hand-painted Tiles were used as a stylish backdrop for a woodburner in the living room. And yes, our Cottage Stripes Stripe Bowls were in the kitchen too.
Our thanks to Director Ned Williams & the team for beautiful sequences showing our techniques and talented paintress Julie Catt. And thanks also to Kevin McCloud Esq not least for describing our tiles as “charming”.
First shown Wed 16th September 2015 you can catch-up and watch Grand Designs Series 15 – Episode 2 on All4 by clicking here
BBC South East Today & Paddy O’Connell – 29 August 2015
Josh Cole was interviewed as part of a special series fronted Radio 4’s Paddy O’Connell for BBC South East Today. Our section was a pre-filmed part of a whole programme dedicated to Rye and the town’s wonderful Jazz Festival.
Jane Davies and Rebecca Rhodes from our painting team were also featured painting our Chaucer Figures and Cottage Stripes.
World of Interiors – April 2015 – The Mid-Century Modern v11 Vase by Rye Pottery.
Please click the image above to find out more.
New for 2015 is Bishop Odo – the latest addition to our 1066 Battle of Hastings Bayeux inspired range.
William the Conqueror’s Half brother and the former, some say tyrannical, Earl of Kent, Bishop Odo was also Bishop of Bayeux.
He’s a key figure in the 1066 story.
In production terms Odo is one of the most complex and intricate pieces we’ve ever made, with almost 20 hand-made stages involved to bring him to life. Odo is also the first figure in this range commissioned by siblings Josh & Tabby Cole – the third generation of the Cole family to run the company.
Do click the photograph to see him in more detail.
Japanese women’s magazine Liniere リンネル has published an article suggesting readers consider a trip to Rye when visiting London. Thanks to Sayaka Hirakawa and Atsuko Chiba for including us.
It’s fair to say that it takes something of a long time to put our Wealden Times stand up … and down!
So large thanks from all at Rye Pottery to Wealden Times Editor Lucy Fleming & Harpers and Hurlingham’s Jane Beard for naming Rye Pottery as this year’s “Best Stand” at the MidWinter Fair.
The Wealden Times MidWinter Fair is a hugely popular Christmas Market held at the charming Victorian Walled Garden at Bedgebury Pinetum. Visitors come from far and wide but it’s a “must” in the Kent & Sussex calendar for locals too.
Whatever the weather the event is staged in warm marquees with wonderful food and lunch stalls making it a great way to get going on your Christmas shopping.
It’s a huge compliment to win given such strong competition, so we’re all very chuffed indeed.
We’re very pleased to say Rye Pottery has been selected as one of Coast Magazine’s “Ten Best Potteries” in the UK.
The team at the glossy mag have designed a stylish 4-page feature with evocative pics of life potting and showcasing, well yes us, but also nine other talented potters and firms, not least The Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall. If you love all things ceramic it’s well worth a read and may well give you inspiration about other potters and potteries to visit while you’re out and about in the UK.
Many thanks to the journo Alex Reece and the rest of the crew at Coast. As soon as we get our hands on a PDF we’ll add it in here, but in the meantime, see if you can spot our paintress Karen in the screen grabs below…. she’s painting Cottage Stripes onto one of our mugs.
For more on this monthly magazine about the seaside click the following link http://www.coastmagazine.co.uk/
Those Collectors who visit the shop in Rye will know if they’ve been lucky, over the last 2 or 3 years they’ve been able to pick up the occasional one-off design sample of this Mid-Century Rye Pottery Classic as we worked out how, and indeed if, we could incorporate a contemporary version of this wonderful, popular figure from days gone by.
So, drum roll please, here is Miss Simplicity fit for the 21st Century, but retaining all her 1950s charm. Modelled by our post-war co-founder Jack Cole, this piece was originally designed as an oil & vinegar bottle. Now with her head firmly in place, and with totally fresh decoration and design, we gave her a suitably demure “soft” launch at the Wealden Times MidSummer Fair in June … and promptly sold out! So now we’ve managed to make a few more, we thought it was time to re-introduce her formally back into British Society.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we’d like you to meet Miss Simplicity.
We thought it would be fun to share a pic of our stand at The Wealden Times Midsummer Fair.
June 2014 was our first time at the show, which is staged at Hole Park in Rolvenden, and we’re pleased to say we had a fun and busy three days.
Our tent was packed full of other stylish stands and we met lots of charming visitors, and from a selfish point of view the reaction to our pots, not least our new lines, shapes and colourways, was very uplifting.
So the next step will be planning the stand for the MidWinter Fair at the Walled Garden at Bedgebury Pinetum in November, once we’ve recovered from three days on our feet that is!
The June 2014 issue of etc Magazine Click here to read the article
We know lots of our customers like to group these little fellas together, so this spring/summer we’ve produced a limited edition run of our popular Ceramic Puppies & Dogs in three (oh yes) new colourways. And collectors will be pleased to know this is the first time they’ve been painted in these colours.
They’re designed to compliment our focus this season on Flamingo Pink, Cobalt Blue and our fresh new Paris Green.
These photographs show one of Rye Pottery’s 50s style little vases in GPlan’s latest collection of sofas, designed by Red or Dead founder Wayne Hemmingway. It’s a Mid-Century inspired collection, a period we’re very still proud of in our history, and one highly sought after by our collectors.
Rye Pottery was one of a handful of Ceramics exhibitors chosen to show several pieces in the legendary post-war design hall of fame that was the 1951 Festival of Britain. We’re not sure if G-Plan were there too …
This shape has just been brought back into production and is called the Mid-Century Modern v11 vase, click here to see them.
And now we’ll let the pictures do the talking.
We’re very pleased to see two of our tableware lines featured in the latest issue of the Wealden Times.
Our stripey Jugs and Little Bowls have been picked for a “Get the look” feature to accompany a fab interiors shoot. We call this pattern Cottage Stripe and it’s been in constant production since the 1950s. The little bowls are the newest addition to the range. They’re a great size that we use at home variously for jam, cream, sugar, olives, tapas … and they also make charming little weaning bowls.
Thanks Wealden Times! www.wealdentimes.co.uk
The English Tourist Board – Visit England – has published a select list of some of the best hand-crafted products still being produced in England.
And we’re thrilled to say that Rye Pottery has been included. As a company we’re incredibly proud that all our pieces & Collections have been continuously Made in Britain (we’ve never “re-shored” because we never offshored in the first place) and it’s wonderful to have been chosen.
We’re alongside a handful of other great names, so do look them up:
Barbour – Wax Jackets,
Pashley Cycles – Incredible Bikes
Debbie Bryan Heritage – Lace
Norfolk Lavender Company
Do take a look at the list on the Visit England website here too.
New our “All White Collection”…
This elegant new colourway for Rye Pottery sees our “Sheep”, the Ram & Ewe, alongside the Billy & Nanny Goats sporting glossy, white textured coats accompanied by soft charcoal faces and detailing. Our classic Ducks are also available as part of the All White Collection, as well as the timeless ceramic Owls, originally modelled by our post-war co-founder Wally Cole.
As ever each individual piece is hand-made using traditional slip-casting techniques and then hand-painted, decorated and initialled by our talented paintresses. Click on the links above to see them all in more detail.
There are plans afoot to extend this range, so watch this space.
Many of our customers are English countryside lovers, with a fair few involved in the land one way or another.
So it’s a huge compliment for us that the Friesian version of our Bull & Cow have been chosen for the Farmers Weekly annual Christmas Gift Guide.
The Bull & Cow part of our English Animals Collection and are also available in other colourways, including soft Jersey or Sussex, which are painted in our classic Chestnut Brown.
Click this link to see the full range of our hand-painted animals.
Ok, so we’re singing our own trumpet, but if we didn’t love them, well, we wouldn’t decide to include them formally in the Rye Pottery Exotic Animals Collection now would we?
So, new for Autumn/Winter, we’d officially like to introduce our new colourway for our Cockatoos – Jade with Pink Wing or, Pink with Jade Wing.
Like all our animals, while these are sold singly, we think they’re great fun as a “Mismatched Pair”. And of course they’re still available in Black & Pink too.
To celebrate Wild Boar Week in Rye, we have produced a limited edition run of our famous Sussex Pig – “The Sussex Boar”.
This new design has been hand-decorated in an exclusive colourway and the head features a unique pair of painted tusks. Each of this small batch will be numbered and signed by the paintress.
Extremely popular as both a collectors item and as a traditional Wedding present, Sussex Pigs have been hand-made in Rye for more than 200 hundred years.
We love Wild Boar Week and are expecting restaurants in Rye to come up with even more delicious dishes this year. So, to support this popular event we are offering one lucky person the chance to win a Sussex Boar by voting for their favourite dish via the contact form below.
The winner will be chosen at random on November 4th and will be contacted to arrange complimentary delivery of their prize. A great opportunity for collectors to own a really rare piece of Rye Pottery! All you have to do is come to Rye and choose where to eat…
To see more of the planned menus & other events coming up during Wild Boar week visit www.wildboar.org.uk
To tell us your favourite dish from Wild Boar Week in Rye – fill in the contact form below.
Please be sure tell us the tastiest dish and importantly at which Rye restaurant you enjoyed it – the restaurant with the most votes will receive a certificate from Wild Boar Week organisers.
The competition is now closed.
His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge – A great name choice from our perspective. Not only was it on our list of favourites, but it’s also short, which from a potting, lettering, design perspective is a jolly useful thing indeed!
So that means our beautiful hand-thrown tankards are now available. Our long-term collectors will spot that this latest Rye Pottery Royal Tankard features a design based on the pieces we produced to mark Prince William’s own birth back in 1982.
Our Prince George Tankards feature our two most popular colourways for our Royal Commemorative pieces – Cobalt Blue and Blue Green.
These charming little mugs are decorated with hand-printed (not digital) transfers and additional hand-painted banding.
Do let us know soon if you would like to order one or if you pop into our shop in Rye you might even pick up a second.
Having said that our seconds don’t hang around long. Back in 1982, William’s maternal grandmother – Princess Diana’s mum – bought a second from our London shop in Connaught Street. So you see, it’s official, Rye Pottery seconds are fit even for a (future) king!
We all send The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge our best wishes on the birth of their first son – The Prince of Cambridge.
But please may we beg the happy parents not to keep us all waiting too long to hear what he is to be called. We – alongside countless other British companies around the country – are all waiting primed and ready to fire our hand-made and hand-decorated commemorative ceramic tankards in the kiln, but, when, and only when, they reveal the last piece of the puzzle. Like many other British firms, we have the additional problem of summer holidays, as if they delay the naming for too long some of our talented but small team will be away on their well earned holidays. HM the Queen was not the only person wanting everything to be sorted before the holidays arrived!
In the hope of being as prepared as possible we’ve worked through a host of different designs to allow for different months, long names, short names and so on. Not that it’s useful to anyone but privately some of us reckon it won’t be a Richard (pre-Tudor), or even a William (too close to his dad), and definitely not Cnut! But we quite fancy George or possibly Albert. If it was a girl we were quite sure Alexandra, Elizabeth or Victoria had a very good chance – but alas, that’s for the next one, and fortunately our business is making pottery not bookmaking!
Our hand-thrown tankards will be produced just as they were when Prince William was born back in 1982. Featuring the two most popular colourways for our Royal Commemorative pieces, Cobalt Blue and Blue Green, these charming little mugs will be decorated with hand-printed (not digital) transfers and additional hand-painted banding. All very traditional and quintessentially Rye Pottery.
The waiting list for these limited edition tankards commemorating the Birth of the Prince of Cambridge is already growing from our band of dedicated collectors, so do let us know soon if you would like one.
As soon as we have a name we’ll hope to provide a sneak peak here of the design.
This year to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation we have produced a very limited number of hand-made and hand-painted bowls and tankards.
June Woolley, who started work as a 15 year-old in 1953 and still comes in voluntarily to act as archivist and layout magician for us, painted some of the pots and bowls while Julie Catt, who came out of retirement to help us, has also produced one or two pieces not least the striking 12-inch bowl featured here.
We are planning to make a small transfer mug for William and Kate’s new baby when he or she finally makes an appearance; the timing looks as if it should coincide with the special Coronation weekend of celebration in mid July, which means we will hope to manage two Royal windows through the summer.
Searching for display material to help decorate our Shop Window here in Rye has produced all sorts of royal memorabilia. Tarquin, who was still in the Navy back in 1953, won 2 tickets to watch the whole procession from a very comfortable spot within Admiralty Arch.
All of which means we’ve had several newspapers from the period stashed away as well as 2 copies of the Official Programme. We’ve also saved a wonderfully evocative 1953 edition of British Vogue.
Do come and have a look at our window if you’re passing.
The Rye Cricketer – The Bowler James Lillywhite
Rye Pottery is delighted to share in the 260th year celebrations for Rye Cricket Club. There’s a whole season of events, not least the First Team hosting a special match against the LASHINGS WORLD XI on May 26th at 2.30pm on the Rye Cricket Salts.
We are very pleased that one of the prizes at this important fixture will be the presentation of a Rye Pottery Cricketer – The Rye Bowler – James William Lillywhite. As aficionados will know, he not only played for Sussex and England but Rye as well. Hence the fact that we paint him wearing the Rye Club colours! He was also one of the founders of the famous Lillywhites Sports store in Piccadilly.
The figure will be presented to the Man of the Match – but will it be a big-hitting former superstar or a local Rye hero?!
The internationally renowned LASHINGS XI always produce a very entertaining and exciting day’s cricket. The Harlem Globetrotter’s of the cricket world are picked from a squad of past & present greats – expect to see a host of star names including West Indian legend Gordon Greenidge plus Phil Defreitas, John Embury, John Lever, Saqlain Mushtaq and Yasir Arafat amongst others.
With a hosted lunch event in a marquee from 11.30 and live music after the game this promises to be a day not to miss.
If you are coming to see us in Rye, why not double up and catch some top class cricket too? Play starts at 2.30.
To find out more please contact Club secretary Martin Blincow or follow the links www.ryecc.play-cricket.com & www.lashings.co.uk
Rye Art Gallery has a wonderful exhibition on at the moment featuring the work of printmaker Norman Ackroyd RA. Entitled The Furthest Lands – A journey round the British Isles, the exhibition runs until 30th June and is well worth a visit, with cheque book in hand!
We’re also very pleased to say that running alongside the main exhibition, Gallery 5 is featuring work from its permanent collection by renowned 20th century British painter Edward Burra and Rye Pottery’s own post-war co-founder, sculptor and potter Wally Cole.
Celebrating what would have been the Centenary of Wally’s birth in 1913, the show features Wally’s striking sculpture “Swan”, which the Cole family donated to the Rye Art Gallery’s Permanent Collection. There are a handful of other examples of Wally’s work on show at the moment, not least a powerful studio ceramic bowl which is on loan from painter David Crew. Wally was a regular exhibitor at the gallery during his lifetime and since his death in 1999 the gallery has also staged a number of retrospectives there too.
Do take a look at all the work on show at Rye Art Gallery whenever you’re visiting, there’s always a tempting array of contemporary arts and crafts to be seen and bought as well as work on show from the gallery’s permanent collection. Find out more on the Rye Art Gallery website here.
We’ve belatedly spotted a lovely shot of our Rye Vixen in the April edition of The English Home magazine.
Our popular ceramic foxy lady makes an appearance in a feature about Christine and Kevan Stevenson’s charming cottage in the heart of Derbyshire’s Peak District.
With the help of architect and local builders, the couple spent months combing two cottages and adding an extension, to charming effect.
Described as an “oasis of light and calm” by the magazine, the house features a calming, pale palette of colours.
Perched above the cooker in the Stevenson’s light, airy kitchen, our hand-painted Rye Vixen – decorated in a soft Coral sponge with gentle touches of Leaf Green and a Chocolatey brown – adds a subtle touch of colour.
Click this link to see the full range of our hand-painted animals.
Sussex Pigs – ceramic pigs painted individually to order and waiting to be fired in the kiln
Now nearly the end of April and we’re still very busy hand-crafting, painting and packing our Sussex Pigs. We have been thrilled to find ourselves mailing our charming traditional Sussex wedding presents all over the country – and indeed the world – since our appearance on the BBC’s Flog It Trade Secrets back in February.
We’ve also been delighted by how many Sussex and Kent residents spotted Quin’s television appearance, and have snapped up pigs for their own mantlepieces or to give to friends and family for weddings and anniversaries. It’s been wonderful to have so many people so keen to support a 200 year-old tradition and a ceramics firm that still decorates AND produces in Britain.
Obviously the idea of one as a wedding present instead of a real live pig has reminded us all of the more rural and leisured way of life in the 18th century – though no doubt we’d all have been thrilled to be given a real pig 200 years ago.
In our Sussex Pig archive files we have some black and white pictures of two early 19th century Sussex pigs that are owned by the Colonial Museum at Williamsburg Virginia in Amercia as part of the DeWitt Wallace Decoartive Arts collection; unfortunately when visiting ourselves, the curator on the day was unable to tell us how they had acquired their pigs. So if any of our collecors on the other side of the pond ever visit the museum and can find out more we’d love to know.
Back in Rye it’s wonderful to still be talking to customers every day who spotted our appearance on the Beeb. Many of them it seems have been waiting for the good weather so they can not only visit us, but enjoy a full day in Rye, not least lunch in one of the many great places to eat here.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Click here for more information about our Sussex Pigs
The Wife of Bath
Here at Rye Pottery we have a special interest in the enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to whom we send our very best wishes. We’ve supplied the shop at Canterbury Cathedral with our ceramic figures and tiles based on Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales for more years than some of us like to remember! We also produce a special tile of the Thomas a’ Beckett Tomb for the Cathedral.
But what some of our collectors may not know, is that Rye Pottery’s figures from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales were born from a request by Canterbury Cathedral for its gift shop in the early 1970s.
Mr Steele who launched the shop, introduced us to sculptor and painter Gordon Davies and suggested we should work together to produce something featuring one of the pilgrims – The Wife of Bath. Discussions and then work ensued, and lo the Wife become the very first in a what is now a series of 38 ceramic figures based on Chaucer’s Pilgrims. And the rest as they say is history!
Gordon went on to design our Rye Nativity too and in the year 2000, then Archbishop George Carey took a complete set of the Rye Nativity to Jerusalem as a gift to mark his Millennium visit. We recently heard from a Rye Pottery collector who had seen it on display out there but sadly his camera had failed him at the crucial moment.
So we’ll always be grateful to Canterbury Cathedral and its inhabitants, not least to Mr Steele for introducing us to Gordon, who did a great deal of wonderful work at Canterbury over the years, as well for us here at Rye.
Congratulations to our paintress Karen Wicking who’s become the proud wife and mother to an award-winning duo at Crufts! Karen is one of the brilliant paintresses who hand-decorates our figures, not least our animals and the recently returned Rye Pottery Hounds!
Karen’s husband Willie and the family’s 4 year-old Labrador Harvey scooped top prize in the the first ever BASC Chudleys Invitation Scurry at Crufts, after clocking up the fastest time in their class.
For the uninitiated, a Scurry is a time event for Gundogs and their handlers where the animal has to retrieve a hidden object as fast as possible. To make it even harder, the object itself is hidden and various distractions are then deployed to put the poor dog off the task in hand.
Organised by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC)14 dogs were competing, but fortunately there was no distracting Harvey or Willie and they secured the top slot.
Karen paints, among other things, our Rye Pottery Hounds
The pair are regulars on the Scurry circuit in Kent and Sussex – often winning we might add – and also competed in the Mitsubishi Motors World Series Gundog Championships in 2012. More than that, Karen and Willie’s 14-year-old daughter Alisha has amassed over 90 Rosettes working with Harvey at a host of country shows and fairs.
And it’s all the more impressive when you know that Harvey is the first dog either Willie or Alisha have ever owned or trained, and Karen says that if it hadn’t been for Alisha, who begged them to get a dog in the first place, none of this would have ever happened.
Next stop is a Cabinet to display all those trophies and Alisha’s Rosettes.
Well, after they’ve fulfilled all their media commitments that is, not least in the latest issue of the The Rye and Battle Observer (click here for more).
Mother’s Day
Well what a busy a week – on all kinds of fronts! We hope half term has been good for all our customers who are parents, grandparents and other lucky ad-hoc child-carers.
So given many mums and grannies are already shattered, we can’t help but point out that Mother’s Day is fast approaching.
We reckon our sweet Naiive Mother’s Day figure has some pointers on what might go down well as a reward for all that hard-work that goes on during the year.
Breakfast in Bed
Tarquin designed this figure so we can attest that a bit of lie-in followed by breakfast in bed used to go down a treat with Biddy
– ‘specially with the family dog serving as hoover as all of us
piled in to their beautiful bed.
Well, back in the day when we were actually small enough for a morning cuddle that is!
Paul Martin with Tarquin Cole
In a new series on BBC2, Flog It Trade Secrets‘ presenter Paul Martin has been revealing the tricks of the trade and surprising things he has learned over his 11 years in television.
Rye Pottery was pleased to be picked for inclusion in the latest programme, which was a touching tribute to the late antiques expert David Barby who died in July 2012, and was a pioneering television antiques expert, not least on Flog It. In the programme presenter Paul reveals: “I didn’t know a great deal about Ceramics [when I started in television], but what I do know now, David taught me”. It was because of David that Paul says he was first introduced to Rye Pottery.
Interviewing Rye Pottery’s Tarquin Cole, Paul discusses the heritage, value and collectability of Sussex and Rye Pottery, not least Hopware, Sussex Pigs, and our Mid-Century Modern classics, contemporary versions of which are still produced by us today. Tarquin took over Rye Pottery from his father Wally Cole MBE in 1978 and is widely regarded as an expert in valuing and dating early Sussex Pottery.
In the programme Paul also discusses Rye Pottery’s 
Mid-Century”Cottage Stripe” pattern, which has been in constant production since 1950. Examples of this design are included in the Ceramics Collections of both the V&A and the British Museum’s Museum of the Home. Finally Paul braves an attempt at painting another of Rye Pottery’s pigs himself – one of our Sows! We use a very difficult technique that our accomplished paintresses spend years mastering, as the glaze has only just been applied and the slightest touch of a finger or too heavy a brush and the piece can be ruined.
Flog It Trade Secrets featuring Rye Pottery aired on February 15th 2013 at 18.30 on BBC 2. You can watch the film on the BBC’s iplayer by clicking this link. The section about Rye Pottery starts at 42.15 and ends at 48.07.
Click the following link to see Rye Pottery’s current ranges
To be honest most of the roses we do here at Rye Pottery are more pink’ish actually. But well, our point is that there’s no getting away from it now we’re in February, Valentines is officially fast approaching.
While we’re always prepared for the last-minuters among our collectors with Rye Pottery vouchers, we also have two charming themed window displays here at our base in Rye if you’re looking for inspiration.
We have pieces to suit all budgets – not least this charming little one-off dish…
Walter Vivian Cole with Mid-Century pieces in hand!
We are celebrating our own little anniversary here, as one of the founders of the current Rye Pottery – Wally Cole – would have been 100 today January 21st 2013.
Whilst we reminisce, here are links to a couple of his obituaries so you can see how the national press remembered him in 1999.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/1999/jan/29/guardianobituaries
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-walter-cole-1076687.html
And a picture that even some of us have never seen.
Whilst you are wrapped up in your winter woolies here’s a sneak peak of a new design we are working on for 2013.
Part of our new all-white collection, this cosy coat is achieved with a decorating technique we call Tracery.
Now for a black face…
I simply cannot believe I am already writing about January 2013, whatever happened to last year? Tarquin and I thought we were about to retire and here we still are~ me in the office and him packing the kilns and painting tiles!
Still the good news is that officially Josh and Tabby have almost taken over. They do a huge amount of the hard work now, while their vitality and enthusiasm is visble throughout the building, the shop and shop windows have really taken on a new lease of life with all their fresh ideas and thoughts. Wonderful for us oldies ~ especially in this centenary year of Wally Cole’s birth ~ to feel the third generation’s vibes and energy pulsing through everything, from where we make the coffee to what colourway shall we try next!
KEEP IT UP BOTH OF YOU PLEASE!
Talking of anniversaries and special dates ~ January 4th was the anniversary of Harold’s accession to the English throne in 1066, see our Bayeux Tapestry figures for more information.
Biddy
Well who’d have thought it? 143 years later – Rye Pottery is on Facebook.
Heads are spinning.
Go on click here and give us a “like”, it’s Christmas!
We’re extending our opening hours in the run-up to Christmas and we also have a guest appearance in the form of a stylish “pop-up” shop from Josh Cole and his successful online gift company – Green & Present.
Everything in Josh’s shop is on its second life – Recycled, Reclaimed or Reused.
Why not “pop in” and have a look – we’re even open on Sundays at the moment for the first time in umpteen years!
Monday-Thursday 9.00am – 1.oopm and 2.15pm – 5.00pm
Friday & Saturday 9.30am – 5.00pm
Sunday 11.00am – 4.30pm
If in doubt, do ring us on 01797 223038.
Our First Vouchers!
It is nearly Christmas and we are working our socks off to keep the kiln firing and make sure everything we have promised has gone out in time!
We have this year also been asked for Rye Pottery Gift Vouchers, which we think is an excellent answer to those folk who really have left it too late. Do please call us for one of whatever value you choose and we will be delighted to help.
Well I fear we are not as quick as the Neapolitan Potter who already has his pregnant Kate & William figure on sale by Wednesday, but we are thinking hard of what designs we will decide on in due course.
First and foremost though I feel we should all wait a while and give the poor girl time to overcome the dreaded morning sickness. I have huge sympathy with that problem having suffered from it for all of my darling children!
Radio Sussex rang up on Tuesday morning to ask what we would be doing, which caught me on the hop a little, though I am sure we will do one of our collectable small transfer tankards when next June/ July actually comes!
Biddy Cole
We’ll hope to add the audio of Biddy talking to morning show radio host Danny Pike soon but in the meantime you can listen via the BBC iplayer here.
So the third Downton Abbey series has finished, what are we all to do I wonder, on dark winter Sunday evenings? At Rye Pottery we are busy planning all the changes involved in the next Cole generation of Joshua and Tabitha taking over from Tarquin and me.
There will be lots of changes with all their new ideas and energy, but I am very pleased that they still want to go on making the lovely Neal French Country House figures, which fit so well with the Downton Abbey lifestyle.
Elegant and stylish the Rye Golfers, Gardeners and Cook all blend into the Downton story, perhaps in the next series they will even employ a Male Chef rather like our Escoffier Chef! I was pleased to realise that we already have 2 Rye Cricketers for the anuual Downton versus the village match, though our Batsman and Bowler are from a rather earlier cricketing period they make quite a good match for Mr Carson in his whites I felt!
The Rye Bowler: James Lillywhite played for Sussex and England, and also had a few games for Rye, before retiring and helping his family found the famous Lillywhites sportswear shop in Piccadilly.
Biddy Cole
On October 9th Eileen Cole widow of Wally, died in her hundredth year. Tiny – barely 5 foot tall – blonde and very feisty, Eileen was Wally’s strength and support over 30 years at Rye Pottery. They first met in 1930 as students at Woolwich Art School and never looked back. During WW2 Eileen, plus small son Tarquin, found digs wherever Wally was posted in England, ending up finally in Farnham while he was with Army Camouflage based at Farnham Castle working on deceptions for the D Day landings.
In 1947 Wally was teaching part time at The Central School & they moved into a small cottage in Winchelsea (by now with new baby daughter as well as teenage son), this allowed Wally with brother Jack to re-open Rye Pottery. Eileen soon found herself having to make pottery trugs, small vases and silk lampshades as well as manning the “Seconds shop”. After Jack’s retirement in the early 1960’s. they moved in to live over the Pottery and Eileen she took over most of the everlasting paper work as well. In 1978 although officially retired, Eileen stayed on to man the shop on Saturdays so that Tarquin and Biddy could have week ends with their young family.
Once retired Eileen was able to give more time to her other great love – gardening. She created a wonderful oasis of cool and calm behind the untidy Pottery development which had grown like Topsy over the years in Ferry Road. Active in Inner Wheel until well into her 90’s, Eileen always loved a visit from old friends & customers happy to have a cup of tea and discuss the good old days of Purchase tax and 3 day weeks! We wish her peace and rest.
Biddy Cole
I know that here in the South East, we have been luckier than a great many areas this summer , at least since the beginning of August. We were fortunate to be close to London and obviously benefited from the Olympic sunshine and feel good factor; Napoleon always asked his prospective generals if they were lucky before he promoted them. We certainly were lucky to share in Lord Coe’s luck with the weather!
Now we we are all back at work painting pots, firing kilns and making changes and decisions about the future. Keep an eye on this space ~ when we know ourselves we will let you all know too!
Biddy Cole
The late Pam Goddard, painting 1950s Rye Pottery Sussex Pigs
We are just back from a funeral, Pamela Goddard, who worked at the pottery from 1948 until she took early retirement in 1984, died at the beginning of June.
Pam was taken on by Jack and Wally Cole to help with decorating the ever increasing range of pottery they were developing in the early post-war years. The country had been starved of pretty things, but now as long as the pottery was for export they could put patterns everywhere! The home market was still restricted to decoration which only used different coloured clay slips, but export allowed total freedom of expression.Pam worked on the Cottage stripes and all their variations and was involved in the introduction of the very popular Multi floral range of tableware (click here fore more), which was exported both to the United States and to several Northern European countries throughout the 1960’s and 70’s. From the mid 60’s Pam moved from painting to throwing ware and, as more semi-automatic tableware making machinery was introduced, she concentrated mainly on thrown dishes, bowls and jugs.
Her thrown ware is identified by the pressed metal P on the base of her pots, identifying her painted work is more of a problem as Rye Pottery standard ware were patterns that were copied from a master original and pieces were not signed until the initialling of each piece was introduced by the younger Coles in the mid 1990’s.
Biddy Cole
Hard to believe half the year has gone and we are now running downhill until December. We seem to have one, or if we are amazingly lucky two,fine days followed by enoromously damaging winds and rain. A poor friend who runs a local nursery said after a while their customers just give up on gardening and decide to leave it all until next year. We are so lucky that pottery does not go off or turn brown in the wet and wind, and we have seen a lot of our regular summer visitors from overseas, though they won’t be having much fun looking at the gardens on the Kent and Sussex borders, in particular Great Dixter and Sissinghurst, both of which make great outings when spending a few days in Rye.
So the Jubilee weekend is over but we are still receiving orders for our mugs so that should keep us busy for a while yet. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves despite the weather or maybe, like true Brits, because of the weather!
I was interested to hear another firm – interviewed on Radio Sussex on the same morning as we were – remark on the expense of trying to do anything to mark the Olympics. Like us they had decided NOT to risk any production that could possibly bring the power and wrath of the Olympic committee down upon their rather small and unprotected heads. We think we will not even draw attention to ourselves by continuing to fly the Union Jack after this week; luckily the sporting figures that we do make, are not exactly hugely popular Olympic sports anyhow.
So we can safely have a window of our Rye Pottery Golfers and Cricketers with no danger of a writ, I might even include the Rye Gardeners or the Rye Chef as so far I have not heard that either gardening or cooking are included in the 2012 line-up!
Biddy Cole
Hot on the heels of Biddy’s appearance in the Mail on Sunday, a great piece about our Royal Jubilee Commemorative pieces in our supportive local paper – The Rye and Battle Observer.
“Rye Pottery is the original and also the last remaining pottery in Rye, but it is also one of just a handful of English potteries to have consistently manufactured commemorative items for all the major Royal Events throughout the reign of Queen Elizabeth II…
Biddy Cole, from Rye Pottery, said: “One long-established local family recently came to buy Rye Pottery’s Diamond Jubilee mugs for their grandchildren, because they had such fond memories of their own children being given Rye Pottery Silver Jubilee tankards while attending Rye’s primary school back in 1977.
“It was a wonderful symbol of support for both the Diamond Jubilee and our long-standing local manufacturing business, and particularly so in the current economic climate.
”The charm of a hand-decorated mug is still so great and so particular to Rye Pottery that yet again we are struggling to keep up with demand.”
>> Click here to read the whole article and to find out all the latest local news!
Rye Pottery will be on local radio tomorrow Thursday May 31st. We have been asked to join in a telephone chat about The Diamond Jubilee helping small Sussex firms in these difficult times. We should be live on BBC Radio Sussex 95.3 FM or 105 FM and also on DAB at about 8.40am.
It is always fun to be involved, but a bit nerve racking doing live pieces. Last year we did a live interview outside the Pottery as the reception was better, but the local train went through at the same time, which meant all the cars were stuck in the road behind us waiting to move while the Rail Crossing gates were shut!
CORONATION DESIGN TANKARDS 1 pt & 1/2 pt by RYE POTTERY
May seems to be rushing past and still we cannot catch up on our Diamond Jubilee orders! We are making the little transfer tankards as fast as we can, not helped by Bank Holidays of course when no kilns are firing ! We have been digging into our archives and have been pleased to find pictures of the colourways used to celebrate the Coronation back in 1953. So here are 2 sizes of hand painted Jubilee Tankards in the Coronation Pattern – the large is approx 1 pint size and the smaller 1/2 pint.
We have used the same charmingly cheerful colourway to paint both 8 inch and 10 inch diameter plates, not to mention the centre piece of our Diamond Jubilee display~ a large hand thrown bowl~ in the same striking colourway.
We’ve tiled more bathrooms than we can count in the last 40 years with our Rye Tiles Range, but we’ve just spotted a wonderful photograph from interiors magazine Country Homes & Interiors. You can see the beautifully styled shot on the magazine’s website here – Summer bathroom | Bathroom ideas | Image | housetohome.co.uk. It’s a classic straight jug in multifloral and serves as a good reminder that jugs are just as good for flowers as they are for drinks!
Biddy recently bought a Rye Pottery vintage Cadborough Brown glazed jug on ebay (yes we’re partial to a bit of Ebaying too) which she also uses as a flower vase. This though, is a glaze which we don’t currently make and we wanted an extra one for our archive.
The House to Home site is great, packed with ideas and inspiration, and it’s the online home for a diverse group of leading interiors magazines from Homes & Gardens and Country Homes & Interiors to Style at home and Living etc – take a look by clicking here. 
I must apologise to the people who write to us hoping for information about items of pottery produced over the past 60 years by the other potteries in Rye – now ALL CLOSED.
We try to give you any information we do have, but as they were all separate businesses, albeit mainly opened by ex-employees of Rye Pottery, I am afraid it means we have only a limited amount of hard facts at our disposal.
Biddy
Although this seemingly endless rain has prevented some of the regular April visitors from making the dash from London to Rye this year, we have been very pleased to receve a great many compliments from all the ones who have braved the April showers. So many people seem surprised that we have managed to avoid using the standard Royal photograph as decoration on our Jubilee Pottery, instead we have continued working with images from our very good collection of Royal Heraldry artwork to produce a souvenir that people really appreciate. We have let one customer down though, she really wanted a thimble and somehow Rye has never trodden the souvenir thimble path!
We have struggled to find out exactly how Rye Town plans to spend the Jubilee week end, but so far have found a rather large hole in the information available; however I am sure something will be happening then, and in the meantime we have looked out our Union Jack flag so it will be ready to fly from our flagpole on June 2.
