In this week's short Making film Danish potter Anne Mette Hjortshøj talks about how she makes her oval teapots.
Filmed back in 2012, it shows Anne Mette making her teapots in her studio on the island of Bornholm, off the coast of Denmark. She discusses the pot's form, the patterned surfaces from stamps and the salt kiln that she uses to decorate her teapots, and her love of their individually picked willow handles.
Anne Mette Hjortshøj in her Bornholm home (left); a salt glazed oval teapot with handmade willow handle (right)
Anne Mette has been one of our gallery potters since 2012 when we held her first UK show. A huge success (we sold over 100 pots in just a few days after opening), Anne Mette has also received great critical acclaim in her homeland when our documentary filmed at her Bornholm studio was picked up by the Danish Queen.
A collector of ceramics herself, the Queen later paid a visit to Anne Mette's workplace and came away with a pot of her own after a long day spent discussing the local clay and Denmark's long line of important women studio potters.
(above) Anne Mette Hjortshøj at work in her studio throwing small oval dishes; (below) the design of Anne Mette's oval teapots, here shown with accompanying salt fired mugs (right), was developed from the tall rounded form of her oval dishes (left)
Anne Mette is one of our favourite potters here at the gallery. Newly delivered boxes of work from Bornholm often sell before the pots have even had time to be displayed on the shelf. Best-loved amongst our customers and gallery members are her straight-sided teabowls, characteristic oval teapots and dishes and her exquisite mugs.
salt glazed oval teapots; the impressed effect of Anne Mette's stamps is accentuated by the salt glaze, creating subtle designs on the sides of her pots
Anne Mette's pots are beautifully quiet and generous, with handles that suit the shape of the hand and subtle surfaces that just keep on giving. Her work is especially lovely to use in the kitchen for serving dinner or afternoon tea, where her functional pots make food feel very special.
(above) porcelain oval teapot with small teabowl; (below) two recent teapots, one with a porcelain slip and Tenmoku glaze (left), the other with Nuka and Tenmoku and a lighter willow handle to suit (right)
As with many of our potters, we have more work by Anne Mette in stock at the gallery than we've had time to put on our website. If you would like to see more of what we have, email us at info@goldmarkart.com and we'll happily send photos of any pots you might be interested in (if we've not snaffled them for ourselves, that is!).
