Three minute read
We talk to new Poppy’s supplier, potter Sam Hayes from Dove Love Ceramics, who designs and makes personalised ceramic urns in her studio in rural Wales. Shaped like garden sheds or country cottages, these urns are unique, colourful and eye-catching.
Sam’s been creating ceramics since she was at school: “I first got into pottery when I was 16, then went on to do a degree in ceramics at Bath, qualifying in 1994. I love doing the design and illustrative work that goes into creating the work.”
She went straight from university into running her own business out of a studio in Bristol, selling her handmade ceramic sheep dressed as showgirls around the UK and Europe. After a break to start her family, and a move to the Vale of Glamorgan, Sam started making ceramics again seven years ago.
“I took time out to concentrate on my family,” Sam explains. “I wasn’t making my own pottery then, but I was teaching pottery-making to adults with learning disabilities part-time. I said that when my youngest started school, I would get back to making my own pottery.”
Eco friendly arts
Coed Hills Rural Arts Space provides studio space to Sam and artists from other disciplines, including a woodworker and a stoneworker.
“It used to be a big tractor shed, it’s now been redone to make artists’ studios,” continues Sam. “As well being an eco events space, there’s a community that live off the land here too, growing their own food.
“As a community, we try not to buy too many things and to reduce the amount of plastic we use. I’ve always been keen on being eco-friendly. The planet is the most important thing we have.”
Personalised creations
The shift into making funeral urns came after a commission from The National Museum of Wales. “I make tableware, and they asked me to design some in the style of cottages. I did three or four different designs and it really took off.
“Then someone asked me if they could use a sugar pot that I’d made as an urn. I wasn’t sure it would work, so I said ‘why don’t I design a whole cottage for you?’ Then I realised this was actually a good idea and started making more. I’d never seen anything else like this.
“Then people started asking for sheds. I thought it could be a good idea for some men, you might not want a cottage for your dad, but if he spent all his time in the shed…”
Each cottage or shed that Sam makes can be personalised. It can be with a pet — at the moment, she’s painting a parrot on a cottage roof — or a small detail, like walking boots by the door or a cup of tea on the windowsill.
“I might copy from a photo of their pet or their garden furniture, or they might just describe what it’s like. Even simply changing the colours of the doors and windows can really personalise the urn. Often people will display their urn on a shelf, beside a photo of the person and a candle.”
From start to finish
“I use white earthenware clay to make the urns. The clay and all the materials are sourced in the UK, from Staffordshire. First, I roll the clay out flat and cut out the shapes, then I build it and model the chimneys.
“Once it’s dry, I paint the colours on. Then I bisque fire it. After that I draw on the lines, add inscriptions or any other writing. I glaze it, then fire it again.”
While Sam enjoys the creative process, being able to help people while they are grieving is also really important to her:
“My mum died last year, so I have huge sympathy for people in this situation, I’ve been through it all myself. With my mum, it was so nice to be able to bring her home and put her ashes in her own little home.”
Find out more about Dove Love ceramic urns in our catalogue.
More supplier stories on our blog — read about the makers of woollen shrouds, willow coffins or sustainable silver.
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