TREND MEETS TRADITION
Pots and Pithoi’s hand-thrown, terracotta, Cretan pots add instant style to any outdoor space
Containers brimming with colourful plants make the perfect finishing touch in a year-round garden. Whether it’s a simple pot of a special snowdrop in late winter, a container filled with vibrant tulips, summer’s vibrant pelargoniums, a flaming Japanese acer in autumn or winter’s shapely evergreens, a selection of well-planted containers rings the changes throughout the year.
The pots you choose are crucial. Stick to one material for a cohesive display, and invest in quality pots that are frostresistant so they’ll last for years. The terracotta containers in Pots and Pithoi’s range are made with a unique blend of clays that can withstand the harshest UK winter. Unlike modern terracotta, which is fired in gas kilns, Pots and Pithoi works with the best potters in Crete, where handthrown pots are fired at 1,050°C using crushed olive stones and grape seeds.
The Cretans have been making the world’s best terracotta pots for thousands of years, and Pots and Pithoi was one of the first to introduce Cretan terracotta to the UK in 1985. Because of the firm’s close relationship with the potters in Crete, ancient methods are maintained. Each pot is hand-thrown on the wheel and traditionally fired, giving it its own unique character and colouration. As David Dodd, Pots and Pithoi’s owner since 2017, says: “It’s amazing to see at first hand the skill and craftsmanship that goes into making these beautiful pots using traditional methods that have been passed down through generations.”
The range is vast and the pots are available in all shapes and sizes, from traditional, shapely amphora and oil jars, to more conventional bowls and containers. Many are beautifully decorative, with ‘pie crust’ detailing, fluted rims or the iconic banded pattern that makes Cretan containers so distinctive. Some larger designs are available as water features and the firm also sells teak furniture, ceramics and Cretan specialities – online and from its West Sussex showroom and gift shop.
Pots and Pithoi, tel: +44 (0)1342 714793; potsandpithoi.com