Maria De Haan is a highly acclaimed English Ceramicist, who now lives between Deià in Mallorca and London. We are more than privileged to be showcasing Maria's new collection of smoked pots.

Her smoked pots are all hand thrown on the wheel using a mixture of white bodied clays with her most recent collection in a stunning porcelain mix. The pieces are all smoke fired in the countryside using natural ingredients. The pots are placed in metal containers with sawdust, wood and organic materials such as avocados skins, bananas skins, coffee and salt. A fire is built on top,  lit and the pieces are left in the fire overnight, the materials burning around the pot leave beautiful markings on the clay body. In the morning each piece is carefully washed and either waxed using natural bees wax or left as it is.

Maria explains, "the idea you use fire to decorate a pot is absolutely fascinating to me. Each pot has its own unique journey in the fire and I love the whole process from start to finish."

 

The effect of the unpredictable essence of the fire and smoke is evident in the uniqueness of each finished pot. 

Photography by Jonathan Gooch