OVNA OVICH - TIME WITH, SALAD DAYS

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09 / 09 / 2022

TIME WITH
SALAD DAYS

Meet Lucy Coote the ceramicist behind Salad Days based in Te Whanganui a Tara, Wellington. We have long been admirers of Lucy's pared back ceramic works so it was a pleasure to be able to collaborate on a mug inspired by our natural indigo dying project.

OO Tell us a bit about yourself and how your brand came to be...

LC I live in Wellington, NZ and produce small runs of ceramics under the name Salad Days. I started ceramics as a creative outlet around the same time I was in my first full-time job. The addiction to clay quickly took over, I started selling my work and I got to the point where I had to choose between ceramics or my other career. It was an easy choice when I made the decision based on which of the two I couldn’t live without. The past few years I have been busy juggling Salad Days around raising our twin girls Daisy and Margaux. They are about to start school which will be a big change for our family and hopefully allow me a little more time in the studio.

OO What made you want to work with Marina & Ovna Ovich?

LC Marina and I have been friends for 18 years now, I love what Marina does with Ovna Ovich and it’s lovely to be able to collaborate with her on this.

OO Where do you find inspiration and what does your creative process look like?

LC Clay is a slow process and often I follow it’s lead. I don’t tend to delve into vastly different collections or work quickly. Usually it is a slow tinkering to get my forms and the functionality of pieces right. The glazes follow this. It sounds boring that I don’t have some deep inspiration but I am really inspired by how people use my pieces and the functionality of them.

OO Art can positively impact us, or shift our perspectives. Have you found inspiration in anything in the last 12 months that has been particularly meaningful to you?

LC I recently visited the Quartz ceramics museum in Whanganui, which has a wonderful collection of NZ pottery and was inspired by so many pieces. However, on reflection the collection was largely made up of male potters which has made me wonder were there less female NZ potters in NZ studio pottery’s heyday and if so, what were the reasons for this, or were they there and males were just allowed more opportunities/did a better at promoting themselves. I feel inspired to find out more about the history of NZ female potters as I know there are some fantstic ones out there.

OO Your favourite thing about winter?

LC Procrastinating about heading to my cold studio. Or deep baths with a good book.