Cardew Club News » 2005 » March

Given you are reading this article, it is reasonable to assume you have already subscribed to “Cardewclub.com” and given that’s the case, the best way of finding out what it is all about is to explore!

Consequently the point of this article is to explain the background as to why the site was developed and a little about the work that has gone into it (a lot!)

The “concept creator” (i.e. in other words, the person who had the basic idea) was in fact Peter Kirvan, the business partner at “Crafts at Cardew”. So we asked him why this idea had come to mind?

Every new year normally sees a crop of new design ideas coming to the boil in time for the various Gift Trade Shows that take place around the world and 2005 is no exception.

Consequently, we are already able to feature some sparkling innovative “Potty” ideas from “Tony Carter”, “Gary Seymour” and “The Teapottery”.

Seeing them altogether does make a mere mortal wonder how on earth these illustrious designers keep managing to come up with fresh thinking about our old friend, the humble teapot.

It was a recently as November last year that Paul Cardew announced the launch of the one and only limited edition he produced in 2004. In February, this year Cardew were able to announce the limited edition of 50 pieces closed as number 50 sold to an eager collector. No mean feat given the hefty sales price of £450.

Why so much?

Well, the hefty price did purchase a “hefty” teapot.

For a start, it measured 15 inches (38 cms) in height from its sturdy base to the top of the 18ct gold lustred teapot on the top of the tree.

Any of you here in the U.K. who have attended any special Teapot event will be more than familiar with the sight of Sue Blazye and indeed her family arriving on the scene with a beady eye for anything unusual or indeed if there is a bargain to be had teapotwise.

Few people in the world can have had more experience in this very specialist area and those who get even close to it know that recognising a bargain is a very real and hard earned skill.

It was a very sad day for “Cardew Design” back in March last year when they had the necessity to call in “administrative receivers” to the company they had built up over thirteen years (definitely unlucky for some!)

On a more positive note, they were able to keep the company going under this regime and in June successfully sold their fourteen-acre site to a local land developer.

This sale enabled the company to pay off the vast majority of its debts and gave Paul Cardew and Peter Kirvan the chance to step forward again.

In recent years, Andy Titcomb has been gathering a growing following for his superb and dare we say, quirky teapot designs many based around animal subjects.

These designs are also distinguished by their quality of design and craftsmanship and by the fact that they are only available in limited numbers.

One interesting observation is that both Andy and Paul Cardew were inspired to produce a design featuring the legendary Dodo within a short time of each other. Great minds thinking alike might have been encouraged by the fact that Andy started his professional career (post his Honours degree in Fine Art Ceramics) working with Paul at his first business “Sunshine Ceramics” back in 1978.

In this day and age, it is dangerous to make a claim that you cannot substantiate but what the hell - here it goes!

On Saturday, June 11th 2005 at the Cardew Teapottery, the largest collection of teapot designers ever will gather in one spot to amuse, abuse, inform, question and generally get to know.

So far, this array of stars includes Tony Carter, Lorna Bailey (new baby permitting), Gary Seymour, Andy Titcomb, Jane and Ian Jeal of The Teapottery and of course, Paul Cardew who has a home game.

It’s a brand new idea, which should be fun and certainly not dull!