Potter’s delight
Anneke Borren wants to bring some sunshine into your life.
The Paremata potter is holding an open studio on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
She said her latest domestic ware collection was fun and different.
‘‘I made a yellow glaze and it just has this wonderful sense of light,’’ she said. ‘‘Imagine how sunny a yellow mug or bowl would look in your kitchen?’’
Besides her sunny ceramics, Borren’s tried-and-true pottery creations will be on sale.
She can’t wait to show visitors through her studio and her home, which is a snapshot of pottery history in New Zealand.
‘‘ Potters are storytellers and I like talking. Open days are a brilliant chance to exchange views.
‘‘There seems to be such an attitude that something well-made like pottery should be put up on a shelf and looked at, that it’s precious. I don’t want that.’’ Borren began potting 56 years ago. For much of 2012, she worked on a 700-tile tableau to honour Abel Tasman. It now hangs in a museum in Foxton.
Getting back to her love of pottery was important, however.
Borren has held an open weekend almost every year since 1994, sharing her passion with the public.
‘‘I love what I do so much. Otherwise I wouldn’t have done it for so long. I’m learning all the time.
‘‘You can have an incredibly rich life without making a lot of cash and that’s what pottery has done for me.’’
Borren said the ‘‘sales mentality’’ of the big chain stores and their ‘‘$36 dinner sets from Briscoes’’ made it hard for potters and primary producers.
‘‘We’re making something that has not been there before, not these mass-produced items. It’s sad, but unfortunately society craves these cheaper, throwaway items today.’’
Making ceramics peaked in the mid1980s, before the 1987 stock market crash, Borren said.
That financial meltdown separated those who took making ceramics seriously from the hobbyists, she said.
She estimated there were 100 New Zealand potters making a living from their craft.
Otago Polytechnic was the only tertiary institution that offered a course in pottery, she said.
‘‘Pottery really died in the 1990s. These days you have to be doing something else to pay the bills.’’
Borren’s studio and home will be open to the public from 10am till 6pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. She lives up a long driveway at 12 Kiriwai Rd, Paremata.