I had the pleasure of filming two exceptional people and skilled potters demonstrating their craft! The historic Taena Pottery – surrounded by mulberry trees and bee-filled lavender – is having its first flirtation with the internet!
Vici and Sean Casserley are the second generation of potters to run the beautiful Taena Pottery. It was started in 1948 by a group of conscientious objectors and survived their dispersal in the 1960s.
Specialising in traditional English slipware, Vici and Sean make and sell their pots from a studio and shop nestled on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment. You can buy read-made or bespoke pieces.
Contact details:
Whitley Court,
Upton-St-Leonards,
Gloucester,
Gloucestershire,
GL4 8EB
Tel: +44 (0)1452 610908
Slipware is a traditional method of decorating clay pots, practiced globally in a variety of styles. English medieval pottery is often decorated with slip and sgraffito (the two techniques demonstrated here) and can be seen on the Tring Tiles at the British Museum:
I am an Art Historian at Cambridge University, with a deep admiration for practitioners of heritage crafts. I grew up near Sean and Vici and hope this film serves as a celebration of lives devoted to creating useful & beautiful things, or, as Sean puts it, 'making nice pots for nice people.'
awesome video, thanks foe sharing.
Pottery barn and the other one
Very wobbly pot
Do you mean the wheel? But, the pieces turn out to be very beautiful.
Very nice video, thank you. What is the very nice music playing at the end?
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! The song is called ‘Draw Me’ by Emmaus and the recording is of my mum and me singing it in the narthex of a church in Hannover. We made it impromptu – she’ll be delighted to know you commented!
Wow! They are both nice, though honestly, I like yours better than the original!
I’d love to meet them, but there isn’t enough time
Nice video, thank you for sharing! Greetings from Melbourne, Australia. 👋
I really enjoyed watching you both work and love your pottery.
I enjoyed watching your video … Thank you!
I’m so glad that you convinced him to do this. Such a lovely and talented couple that are much loved by our family across the drive.
My wife had the honour of having a personal lesson the other day and watching Sean performing and talking about his craft is an absolute joy.
This is wonderful. Lucky you and thank you!
I wish it was a longer video. In that short time I picked up 3 new tips to try on my wheel. Thank you, WG in NZ