Mr and Mrs Smith: Introducing Wonki ware to Mr & Mrs Smith

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Introducing Wonki ware to Mr & Mrs Smith

Wonki Ware is Fair trade and all hand made ceramics from South Africa

Di Marshall lives in a small town called George along the Garden Route in South Africa where she started a small studio in the town centre about 10 years ago. Purely to keep herself occupied while her children where at school. The family lived on a farm at the time and had to travel quite a distance everyday so Di thought it would be good idea to work in her pottery studio in the morning, collect her children and go back to the farm in the afternoon.

She happily started working and slowly attracted the attention of the local community. Shortly her little studio became a meeting place for other potters and people that enjoyed being creative. About the same time a young Xhosa man named Artwel started arriving every morning looking for work. Di didn't have much money at this stage to pay him, but he was willing to do anything, so she started teaching him about clay. Di devised a method of making pottery that Artwel could duplicate from her shapes that she had originally created. To their delight he started producing very sensitively worked platters and bowls. They began developing patterns that were relatively easy and simple to reproduce but at the same capturing a sensitivity in pattern and design.

Another person that became invaluable to the team walked into the studio one day and painted a plate and Di knew she had to have her join their team. Les, Artwel and Di became a formidable pottery team. Their energy and enthusiasm had people from all over the country popping into buy their pottery.

The word had spread from Cape Town to Johannesburg and before long they had orders that they could not keep up with. At about this time Janice joined their team and became their first agent and before long they had their pottery showcased in some on the most prestigious stores in South Africa.

Di and her team have now been in operation for about 10 years and are presently employing 40 people from disadvantaged backgrounds. They are all now skilled employers and are valuable, contributing members in their communities. Their skilled potters are now training new comers in the art of making Wonki Ware and Di feel confident that this is being achieved successfully. It is with pleasure and pride Di can hand over this side of the business to her employees.

Wonki Ware is a product that got developed purely by chance. It was born from a collective energy of 3 people whose excitement and enthusiasm were boundless. It still amazes Di today what they unintentionally created.

The vibrant, warm spirit of Africa is clearly visible in the Wonki Ware pottery and Di thank their potters and South Africans for their enthusiasm and love for what they do.