TeaForum.org

Few days back @Victoria suggested that I make som photos of teaware of European potters that I have been collecting past few months. So here is a new topic dedicated to European potters.

The first pot I am showing is from the last Jiří Duchek’s firing. In this firing Duchek tested 4 different clays an how they would react so my goal was to collect them all. This particular pot was made of clay found in an air stole used in a small charcoral mine and was wood fired bizen style. It holds 90ml.

I'll play!

Here's one grouping of teaware from Petr Novak, a Czech potter whose work I prize greatly because of great form, function, fine clay. He has topics dedicated to his work already here and here:



I also have some beautiful pieces from Ginkgo in Switzerland:



and Inge Nielsen in Denmark (but I don't have a Flickr set for her yet, shame on me):



and wooden tea utensils from Ondřej Sedlák are lovely and useful too:

@debunix I love Ondřej’s work, the works he’s documenting on Instagram are incredible and his wooden scoop is on my wishlist too.

lUKAV28 wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 12, 2019 3:38 am

The first pot I am showing is from the last Jiří Duchek’s firing.

Maybe it is a Czech thing, but this pot in its peculiar cuteness reminds me of the little mole cartoons I used to watch as a kid: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Krte%C4%8Dek& ... iax=images

How is the clay performing with tea? I have had my reservations with European clay and its effect on tea. Petr Novaks, for example seem mostly more suitable for Puerh than for other teas, at least that is what friends who have used it have told me.

I also do enjoy following Ondrejs instagram, real nice wood work, although I'd prefer a slightly more organic design on the picks.

Bok wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 13, 2019 4:48 am

Maybe it is a Czech thing, but this pot in its peculiar cuteness reminds me of the little mole cartoons I used to watch as a kid: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Krte%C4%8Dek& ... iax=images

How is the clay performing with tea? I have had my reservations with European clay and its effect on tea. Petr Novaks, for example seem mostly more suitable for Puerh than for other teas, at least that is what friends who have used it have told me.

I also do enjoy following Ondrejs instagram, real nice wood work, although I'd prefer a slightly more organic design on the picks.

OMG little mole <3, this was my childhood cartoon too!! Loved it. Czechoslovakian cartoons were all over our national television back in the day and they were really good.

Regarding your question I really don’t know yet as I will have a fair share of testing the clay in the following days as I kept my pots sealed because of apartment renovations. Brian (hundredsofthings on Instagram) uses Duchek’s pots for all kinds of tea. Peter (Pu-erh.sk) from whom I got this particular pot told me that it still has slight hint of clay taste as Bizen wares are usually fired longer than this batch that was fired for 36 hours. But it is otherwise more porous than zhuni clay. But he also drinks only sheng tea so... Hopefully could answer your question in the upcoming days.

Here are the other 3 pots from Duchek series sitting on dedicated tea trees. The white one is cracking glaze pot, the black one is slightly irony and more porous clay, for the red pot I am not sure. Bonus is the rye pot with dedicated tea plate that is made from local kaolin clay.

And some other Duchek’s pieces. A cup, waste water container and a pitcher.

And to not make it only a Duchek thread here are some other pieces I gathered. The small pot with bird egg like effect is from Jiri Lang. I understand there are some fans of his work on this forum. The other two pieces are from Swedish potter Stefan Andersson who’s craftsmanship I started to appreciate very much. One is small 50ml shiboridashi the other is wood fired kyusu that was made exclusively for Pu-erh.sk few years back. I think 8 were made and I got the last one as a nice addition to my collection.

Regarding Petr Novak's clays....he uses some different clays with different pots. I have appreciated the effect of the iron-rich clay in those first pots from the TeaChat special offer on green teas; I use those shibos and that kyusu mostly for morning sencha and chinese greens, and sometimes for light-roast oolongs. I have reserved others pots and shibos for puerh and dark roast oolong, mostly because I use the others for lighter roast or green teas.

And I have a collection of pots & shibos that are glazed on the interior that I mostly keep at work, where ease of cleanup is of more importance than nuances of clay on tea.

All of my other European-made teawares are fully glazed so no special clay impact on tea.

As a Czech American I find it interesting to know some of my fellow people are also seriously into tea, despite how few of us are out there.

Shine Magical wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:44 am

As a Czech American I find it interesting to know some of my fellow people are also seriously into tea, despite how few of us are out there.

I would say proportionally, there are more east Europeans into tea than US Americans. Tea is much more part of the culture there, probably also due to Russian influence. Very active in my observation, just not so noticeable in an English speaking forum...

I wonder if I am genetically predisposed to appreciate tea.


Jestli nekdo tady mluvi Cesky a chce mi poslat zpravu, to by bylo skveli.

Bok wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 13, 2019 4:48 am

I also do enjoy following Ondrejs instagram, real nice wood work, although I'd prefer a slightly more organic design on the picks.

Ondrejs picks are varied in style, but they are his own design and not like the more curvaceous style I occasionally see in Chinese tea setups.

When I first saw his tea scoops, I thought they might be too wide to be practical with my small teapots; I bought the first one thinking it would be a better solution to showing off the tea I was sharing and reviewing than shiny light glazed presentation trays. I was right about that, but wrong about the idea of 'too wide'. They are exactly the right size to contain tea poured or prodded or picked out of various containers, and they channel it perfectly into even quite narrow mouthed teapots and bottles and thermoses. I need to make a video demonstrating this, but I can't today as my travel set does not yet include one of his scoops and picks, and I'm missing that this morning.

lUKAV28 wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:47 am

And some other Duchek’s pieces. A cup, waste water container and a pitcher.

I love the cup here. I've been watching his items on darjeeling.cz, and those of other potters they're now featuring, but as my collection has grown, I don't have room for no more than one or two pieces, and it has to be just the right one.

While mentioning darjeeling.cz, I should also note that I love my various accessories from Studio Edgart textiles. The pads, tablecloths, pouches and travel bags are great, and my travel tea setup is carried in a one of these bags, and I carry a teacup back and forth between office and various conferences and workrooms in one of these, slung over my arm and safe from minor bumps, leaving hands free for papers, laptop, tea thermos, etc.

debunix wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:42 am

I love the cup here. I've been watching his items on darjeeling.cz, and those of other potters they're now featuring, but as my collection has grown, I don't have room for no more than one or two pieces, and it has to be just the right one.

While mentioning darjeeling.cz, I should also note that I love my various accessories from Studio Edgart textiles. The pads, tablecloths, pouches and travel bags are great, and my travel tea setup is carried in a one of these bags, and I carry a teacup back and forth between office and various conferences and workrooms in one of these, slung over my arm and safe from minor bumps, leaving hands free for papers, laptop, tea thermos, etc.

I feel you. As I was putting pieces on the shelves I realised I have too many of them too. And there is no point in storing them in boxes as they would quickly be forgotten and never used :sigh.

Btw. I realised I have another’s Duchek’s cup. . I usually order directly from him. He always have some pieces in stock and are usually cheaper than elsewhere.