The Square Peg - Ceramics and Pottery

Formed in 1974, Highland Stoneware have built an international reputation for quality and innovation. They make a large range of high-fired, free-hand painted ceramics in the North West Highlands of Scotland. Highland Stoneware detail

Every piece of Highland Stoneware is hand-made and freehand decorated. The variations that evolve are the hallmark of the uniqueness of the stoneware. No two pieces are the same, so you can build your own collection.

Ranges we stock include Machair, Thistle, Rockpool, Seascape, Landscape, and Misty Loch

Tain Pottery

Tain Pottery is firmly established as one of the largest Scottish ceramic manufacturers offering a range of products created by traditional craft technique and skill. Their team of artisans includes two potters who between them have more than 50 years experience creating craft ceramics. The pottery covers diverse methods and techniques, from hand built and thrown through jiggered and jollied to extruded and pressed.

Their original designs, all hand-painted, continue to evolve with the passing of time . . .

We stock Glanadlie, Fearn, Balintore, and Buchanan

Tain Pottery

Benaya Ceramic Art Tiles Benaya Ceramic Art Tile - Blue Daisy

"Works of art immortalised in stone". The tiles are designed in-house, and hand-crafted by highly skilled artisans' guilds.

The image is first drawn on the rough tile surface before relief work is carefully applied - creating a unique three-dimensional outline.

The tiles are then hand-painted with several layers of glazes that enrich the textures and colours.

The tiles are fired in kilns for 24hrs at up to 1,000 degrees Celsius - ensuring a permanent image that will never dull or fade.

Emma Bridgewater

Emma Bridgewater's distinctive pottery is made from an earthenware mix that is a variant on Josiah Wedgwood's 18th century recipe for cream ware.

The clay arrives at the factory in solid form, but is mixed with water and sieved until it becomes a smooth slip which is then poured into plaster moulds; the plaster absorbs the water from the slip, leaving a layer of clay hugging the shape of the mould.

When the time is judged right, the excess slip is drained from the moulds and collected for re-use. The moulds are opened to reveal the Emma Bridgewater - Tulips 'green' cast shape inside. The pots are then loaded onto boards and taken to be sponge fettled (any moulds marks removed) and dried in preparation for biscuit firing.

The only pots which are not slip cast are bowl and plate shapes, which are individually formed on hand operated machines of considerable antiquity!

Once a pot has been biscuit fired it is either hand sponged before glazing, or glazed and refired before one of the litho patterns is hand applied. These litho decorated pots are then fired for a third time.

Emma Bridgewater - mugs

Colin Kellam Pottery

Colin has been potting at the Lion Brewery, in Devon, for over thirty years.

He and his team produce a comprehensive range of oven-to-tableware, lamp bases, garden pots, planters, tiles, and (our favourites!) Colin's fabulous animal and bird sculptures.

All of the work is hand decorated using natural pigments - predominantly iron, cobalt, chrome and manganese over an ash glaze.

The pottery is oven and microwave proof, dishwasher safe and no toxicity is released from either clay body, glazes or colours. The sculptures are all weather and frost proof.

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