Rye Pottery

We’ve been hand-picked by luxury outfit Mr & Mrs Smith – “What to buy” if you’re in Rye

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.

Recommended in National Geographic Traveller UK

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

Turner Contemporary partners with Rye Pottery for new design

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.