Osborne & Osborne Pottery

I love local pottery, there is something quite wonderful about driving around Cornwall and discovering a maker's sign beside the road. It doesn't have to be pottery, I am intrigued by anything home or hand made. I just love the happenstance of it, I'm naturally nosey I guess, I want to peer in.  

There is such a wealth of ceramics in Cornwall, our historic ties go way back. After all we have produced tonnes of China Clay for the world, a key ingredient in porcelain (you can find out more at the Wheal Martyn Museum). Perhaps the best known name in Cornwall might be Leach Pottery, associated with St Ives and that famous light, starting in the 1920s. Then of course there is Cornish Ware - not actually made in Cornwall - but associated with our sea and sky with its bold and bright blue brush strokes.

I prefer, however, pottery that has the maker's marks more visible. I like pieces that feel like they could have been forged from the very ground. With glazes that are somewhere in-between the shades and textures that want to be stroked, held and cupped in your hand.

A long term favourite of mine is Osborne & Osborne ceramics, though the name might be new the relationship isn't. Frances Osborne (known previously as Fraddon Pottery) and her daughter Rachael (who's been making her mark as a silversmith) have combined their creativity and started bringing their works together. Such beautiful pieces, each new photo that pops up on Instagram is a delight, often snapped up by enthusiasts. With a new website on the way, their brand is growing, and it's a pleasure to see.

So what can you expect? The practical, like noodle bowls and teapots, as well as the purely decorative and artistic. Their clays are locally sourced and motifs hint at the floral and fauna around. The studio is based currently in Fraddon near Newquay, on Cornwall's north coast, and you really can feel those rugged landscape's influence in every piece.