Object Teapot – Tea Pottery by Hanka Vrbicová

Process

I would like to start this text with an engaging story about being a passionate tea connoisseur who has been drinking selected tea in the cradle… Unfortunately, I do not have such a nice story up my sleeve. I came to pottery and tea pottery in such way that I just landed in it somehow. Well, I’m guessing that I’ve been dealing with ceramics from times long past, even before I was born as a blond girl in central Europe, but I’d rather not develop such an esoteric line here. It doesn’t change the fact that I consider this craft fun, for me, it’s a world full of adventures and discoveries, and I enthusiastically sink into it like Alice in Wonderland.

Hanka enjoying the creation process

Just landed into it…

I met pottery as an occasional teacher at an elementary art school. As a gift for my second maternity leave, I bought an old throwing wheel and attended the first course in Kohoutov in 2016. I learned a lot of things myself in our garage, and I owe a lot to my fantastic teacher Petr Tomsa.

From the wheel to the tea

In the end, it was Petr who built us a wood kiln in Říkovice near Litomyšl in 2018. This is where I began to be interested in tea pottery. At that time, I probably drank stuff like Granny’s Garden fruit tea and teapot making seemed a complex and complicated thing. It was clear that I was going to have fun for many years to come. It’s been two years and I do have a great time and the Teapot keeps fascinating me. New horizons of tea pottery making keep opening for me and training me in perseverance and patience. The need to master and combine techniques, technologies, and aesthetics is more than important, I’d say inevitable when making tea utensils. It never lets the potter get stuck in the rut. On the contrary – it keeps them on their toes, thinking, developing, and pushing the boundaries of their craftsmanship and sensitivity to the form. The joy and satisfaction of the process itself is as intense as the joy of a good result.

In addition, the space has brought Vlasta Hanuš my way, a carver with an unusual sensitivity for the material. Creating things with such a person is pure joy. Together, we make teapots with wooden handles and still have many other ideas up our sleeve…

Teaware and more…

At the same time, I try not to limit my attention only to tea pottery. With great interest, I create everything one needs in the kitchen – kneading bowls, bread molds, jugs, pots for fermenting vegetables, cups, and plates. When I’m not sitting in the workshop with my hands in the clay, I am in the garden – with my hands in the soil again… Oh yes, and in the kitchen. All the home-grown vegetables, cooked with love, served on my own dishes, around a table with a bunch of satisfied diners – that’s what I call the good life. And pottery is an integral part of that.

May my pottery bring you as much joy as I get from it when making it.
H.