Thursday, December 3, 2015

The End of an Era

Sassafras Tree Artisan's in Northwood, was where our New Hampshire pottery studio was located. The studio was in the back of the barn that housed the country home decor and gift shop. Prior to Sassafras, it was home to Northwood Pottery. There had been a pottery in the barn for over 25 years.
The current shop owner made the decision to retire this year. During our trip to New Hampshire, in October, Jeff went to help sort through the last of the pottery stuff, and pick up any inventory that hadn't sold.

Jeff Lalish was the founder of Northwood Pottery, and in the studio was a Japanese kick wheel that belonged to him. He stopped by during the clean out, and gifted the wheel to Jeff. He is so pleased to be it's new owner. I am sure he will use it occasionally, but I also think it will make a nice display piece in our gallery.


I have slowly started to go through the boxes of inventory and it has been quite fun to revisit work that we made over five years ago. In one of the boxes was a lovely little pot by JZ. It's one of my favorite glaze combinations that he used. I am not sure if it qualifies as a teapot, or just a pouring vessel... either way it's quiet little pot that speaks to me.



Sassafras is located on busy rte 4, making it a desirable commercial location. We all fear that when the owner decides to sell, the buildings will be torn down and in it's place will be McDonald's. The landscape of Northwood will be forever changed.

8 comments:

  1. Lovely memories are those that live on . . .

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is a sweet little pot. I love the Sassafras storefront. I hope it remains like this for years to come.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I could live in that building; I sure hope they don't tear it down, Great John pot there. I hope to see that wheel in action some day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sweet memories.
    What a lovely little pot. It has such a quiet presence, it doesn't need to be big.
    Terrific that Jeff has the kickwheel with so many memories!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That is a sweet little vessel, and it holds such large meaning.
    It seems appropriate that Jeff should have that potter’s wheel. As a display it will likely be the start of many conversations.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Southern NH sure has been getting a lot of McD's and Walmarts and targets and tire stores and.....making it not very NH-like anymore....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. and there is a Dunkin Donut every two miles! I just heard that the only Dairy Queen in Nashua is being torn down on rte 101A to make way for another Dunks. There are already EIGHT of them on that road.

      Delete
  7. I sure hope that does not happen. My name is Paul Mowatt. We have a pottery business in Temple, NH. We are looking g for potters and pottery assistance. If anyone needs a job please call us at 603-767-0224.

    Thanks. We hope that McDonald's fails.

    ReplyDelete

I welcome and appreciate comments. Lately I have had a lot of spam and therefore have had to turn on word verification as well as comment moderation for posts older than 14 days.