In Fine Form

Nature-inspired patterns, organic shapes and delicate
hues are just part of the allure of the stylish collections
from JS Ceramics.

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Jen Watt points to a large, lumpy bowl in the process of being formed in their Te Puna ceramics studio. The half-finished, slightly gritty bowl is a far cry from the delicate, finely painted and
glazed collection of products adorning the walls of the rural space, but Jen’s very enthusiastic
about its potential.

“I add some of the things I collect to my experimental creations,” she explains. “I’m a forager.
I love to collect sands and clay and rocks. I grind them up with a mortar and pestle and add them
to pieces for texture or colour. It doesn’t always work but that’s the fun of experimenting.”

Experimental creativity seems to be paying off for owners Jen and Tom, her husband and
business partner. Surrounded by the green vines and high tree lines of the Bay of Plenty kiwifruit world, JS Ceramics has become a cottage industry success, with its products stocked in popular design stores throughout the country.

While much of Jen’s design favours organic shapes and is inspired by New Zealand landscapes,
flora and fauna, there’s an eclectic variety to choose from. The Contain tableware collection is more abstract, decorated with quirky patterns developed in a series of glaze, brush and pencil application experiments. The Pink Sands collection includes plant pots and coffee drippers. Jen says her processes of learning and creating are unique and always evolving. “I read books, watch YouTube tutorials by potters who know more than I do, and I teach myself through trial and error.”

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Funnily enough, sometimes a blunder gives the best result. “Our Pink Sands collection was a total mistake,” she says. “We were trying to create a light grey for a collaboration with Paper Plane [the popular Mount Maunganui based design shop]. A supplier advised us to add an oxide to the slip
cast clay and although we were aiming for grey, it turned into this gorgeous pink.”

The results of this experimentation and gutsy risk-taking now beautify homes all over New Zealand. It’s a fine-tuned production process that’s been in place now for over a decade, but the couple
admit the art of ceramics is not a quick process. “We slip cast small runs of products such as tableware, plant pots, vases and decorative art-tiles,” says Jen. “A single piece takes at least a
week from start to finish. Often times it’s more than a week because a more intricate piece will
need three different firings — between producing the shape, glazing and applying designs. Each
one takes 48 hours to fire, longer in winter,” she explains.

“Many people don’t understand how much work goes into each product and that they take time
to make — they expect it to be fast,” says Jen. “We make the process as efficient as possible
without risking quality.”

“Most of my inspiration comes from nature. I will be out on the boat daydreaming about colours and different ways we can make things.”

Slip cast or slipcasting is a technique used to create pottery or ceramics, especially when it comes
to shapes that aren’t as easy to create on a pottery wheel. JS Ceramics uses pure white New Zealand earthenware (slip) clay to fill plaster moulds that Jen designs and makes by hand. The clay forms a layer, the cast, on the inside walls of the mould. Once each piece is set, it’s then trimmed, smoothed and glazed by hand before firing in one of the five electric kilns on site.

While most of their work is homegrown, popular collection George and Co is designed and curated
in Te Puna, but made overseas, enabling them to offer larger, more complex ceramic pieces. It’s a beautiful assortment of tableware, serving platters and bowls, planters, vases, porcelain lamps and decor items, with a focus on clean lines, lots of white porcelain, mid-century design and Japanese design elements.

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Japanese design aesthetics and the traditions, quality and philosophy behind it also influence
JS Ceramics. Jen is passionate that the pieces are counter to mainstream product on the market. “Most of my inspiration comes from the outdoors and nature — the shapes, designs and aesthetic.
I will be out on the boat fishing and daydreaming about colours and different ways we can make things,” she says.

Consequently, JS Ceramics collections are all organic in nature. “We don’t want to create something that looks or feels mass produced,” says Jen. “Although we have a production process, we use our hands to make our ceramics look unique — they are handmade, hand-glazed and hand-painted.
It’s beautifully imperfect but made with a simplicity and quality that people love.”

Jen wants to avoid ‘fast fashion’, where something is hot one minute and in landfill the next. “While
we do follow fashion trends, our aim is to create products that will keep for a long time,” she says.
We really want to encourage a culture of treasuring what you’ve got and using it until it wears out.
In fact, I’m more excited about making useful objects. It fascinates me that the perceived value
of a decorative object is seen to be more valuable than that of a useful object.”

Jen and Tom have intentionally tried to keep the business in the family. Jen’s brother Pete works
with them full time and they’ve kept production small in the Te Puna space purpose-built by Jen’s
dad, Bob.

It was actually Bob that started the whole idea back when Jen was still at school. “Dad invested
in a pottery business to make garden ornaments and while that didn’t work out, I got a taste for
making ceramics while helping him out. Then I started my own studio in Te Puna called Jen’s Studio. That’s what the JS stands for.”

While Jen had the design ideas and pottery skills, her younger sister Susanna threw herself into the sales, filling her car with the products and talking retailers into taking them on. “Susanna was gutsy
— she was doing this at 18 years old. I’d tell her I couldn’t pay her that week but she’d say, ‘Just pay
me when you can’. She was so encouraging, a real go-getter and I wouldn’t be where I am today without her. She was the one that kick-started it all to wholesalers.”

Nowadays, Jen and Tom divide up the work between them, with Jen on design, creation and overseeing a lot of trade shows, and Tom running George and Co. “We work really well together,”
says Jen. “Tom’s more practical than I am and he’s naturally good with fixing things, like a lot of
Kiwi blokes. He learned a lot of the technical aspects to kiln repair and is great at finding ways
of improving our production processes. He also does the financial side and customer service.”

“I just do what I’m told!” laughs Tom from the studio, where he’s now applying the first coat
to an art tile.

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jsceramics.nz

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Story by Jan Goldie

Photography by Alice Veysey

First published in issue 4 of Our Place magazine.