Pottery makes for painstaking work
Running a pottery business has taken a physical toll on Holly Houston.
Since starting Houston Design Co two years ago the 23-year-old has suffered work-related injuries including nerve compression in her hand and a rotator cuff injury commonly dubbed tennis shoulder.
Producing handmade ceramics on a large scale is physically demanding, with large quantities of clay being cut, moulded, mixed and thrown.
Houston says she used to mix by hand about 40 kilograms of clay a day until she invested $30,000 in a clay mixing machine called a pugmill as well as two kilns, a slab roller and other tools.
‘‘I was just in so much pain all the time,’’ Houston says.
The pugmill mixes Waikato clay with sand from Piha on Auckland’s west coast, delivered to Houston by friends following trips to the beach.
She’s tried sand from other beaches but finds Piha sand the best.
‘‘It’s just so damn fine. It’s velvety and smooth - it’s so beautiful.’’
The black sand gives Houston’s ceramics a speckled, earthen appearance.
The mother-of-one took up ceramics as a hobby three years ago
‘‘It's just so damn fine. It's velvety and smooth - it's so beautiful.’’
Holly Houston
and enjoyed it so much she turned her passion into a full time job.
Her studio sits behind trendy Takapuna cafe Little & Friday which her mother started and Houston used to work at after dropping out of school early.
Houston supplies Little & Friday with its crockery in exchange for reduced rent. She also sells to other hospitality businesses, event planners, retailers and online.
Most sales are through four retailers - Muck and Douglas and Bec in Auckland, Paper Plane in Mount Maunganui and Let Liv in Wellington which were her ‘‘bread and butter’’.
She limits the number of retailers she supplies to simplify her business and ensure she fulfills orders.
‘‘I’m just one person and there’s only so much I can make.’’
Houston produces up to 200 pieces a week with each batch taking between two to four weeks.
Her pieces range in price from $21 for a ceramic bowl or spoon to $85 for a platter. A tumbler will set you back $30, cannister $55 and a sold out ‘‘large coil vessel’’ priced at $240.
She says her pieces are on the expensive side but people are willing to pay for locally handmade goods.
‘‘I wouldn’t be able to afford my own stuff.’’