Pottery? O.K. Teapottery? Huh?
By Shona Adhikari

IF tea is your favourite beverage, then read on! This is an article about the designing and the fine craftsmanship involved in the making of innovative teapots — teapots that are unlike any that one has ever seen. During a recent visit to England’s Lake District, I stumbled purely by chance on the Teapottery factory at Keswick.

Intrigued by the name on the two-storeyed building, just off the main street, I wandered in and was completely floored by the ingenuity and imagination that had gone into designing and shaping what were actually teapots! There were pots shaped like pop-up toasters complete with toasts, wash basins with gilded taps, bathtubs with towels and soap, cameras, racing cars, pianos, suitcases, stoves, fireplaces, dressers, armchairs — in short anything that you can possibly think of!

The larger, pots come priced around £30, while the smaller ‘one-cup wonders’ are about £18. Not cheap certainly, but a great gift for anyone who has a passion for tea — and from the business that Teapottery has managed to generate, it is obvious that there are many tea-lovers in the world. Production, is not large since each piece is handcrafted, but a third of the teapots made are sent abroad, on orders. The rest are sold through the Teapottery shops at Keswick and Leyburn, and at department stores, tea and coffee retailers, gift shops and cookery shops in the UK.

The Teapottery story began in 1967, when Judy Rance and Martin Bibby met at Hornsey College of Art in London. Judy was taking a course in fashion and textile design, while Martin was studying ceramics. By 1978 they were itching to start their own pottery, and they impetuously put all their savings into buying a derelict farm at Swineside, in the Yorkshire Dales. They named their venture ‘Swineside Ceramics’, and took on their first employees, Karen and Liz — who are still with them and are now joint production managers, at the Teapottery factory at Leyburn.

Swineside Ceramics quickly developed a reputation for innovative designs of various items, including a set of three teapots, each shaped as a head sporting a distinctive hairdo. As orders increased, more and more of the farm and its outbuildings were renovated — until there were no derelict bits left! In the quest for more space, and to avoid being snowed in quite so often in winter, Swineside Ceramics moved from the bleek moors into Leyburn, a bustling market town in North Yorkshire.

By 1986, the teapots were generating so much interest in the UK and abroad, that Judy and Martin decided to concentrate exclusively on them — thus Swineside Ceramics, became Swineside Teapottery. Three years later production was transferred to a new, purpose-built factory in Leyburn Business Park. Since passersby insisted on having a look around, a walkway was created, so that every step of production could be seen, and a cup of tea was offered at the end at the cosy showroom and shop, where the complete range would be displayed.

The second Teapottery factory at Keswick was opened as recently as 1995, so that many visitors to the Lake District could watch and learn about the process of making these innovative, eccentric teapots. On the day I visited the workshop. There were at least another 10 people wandering around the place, and showing great interest in the details of the history of tea pictorially represented on panels at the entrance.

Inside the workshop, the first process begins with a rather noisy machine called a blunger. Rather like a giant food mixer, its job is to blend solid clay with water, and is Teapottery’s concessions to 20th Century technology. Next comes the moulding section, where the clay is poured into plaster moulds, which gradually absorb the moisture. Here we were able to see moulds being opened and the slip-cast components of the teapots-to-be, carefully taken out. These are said to be as pliable as leather, and only too easy to tear or damage.

Next comes the sponging area, where each piece is checked and imperfections carefully removed and sent on to the kiln for the first firing. Next comes the decorating section and we saw a highly skilled artist carefully decorating the current batch of teapots, shaped like wooden chests. After painting the pieces are glazed and then sent for the second firing. Next comes the second round of decoration the gold and silver tlustres are painted on by hand. And after the third firing the piece is finally ready.

The showroom upstairs has a wide range of most of the special Biddy designs — every single design made is the combined effort of this highly creative couple. While most of the people at the showroom were only visiting, there was one customer looking for a gift for her brother — who particularly enjoyed his cuppa. It transpired that she was able to find exactly the right pot, for another of her brothers passions was cricket, and sure enough Teapottery had this splendid teapot created specially for cricket lovers — complete with cricket bat, ball and wicket.