Traditional Sandnes pottery

I so love the traditional pottery from Sandnes, close to where I grew up. Historically, this area of Norway was almost tree- less and with no timber industry. In fact, the many ship- wrecks along this rough stretch of coastline represented badly needed timber for housebuilding. The timber became a very valuable commodity, and was only used on the front facade of the house, the rest was made of stone. Due to the lack of timber, the materials had to be reused, and this area does not have many really old houses. You can, however, still spot ship timber in barns. This was quite a digression...

 

BUT, there was clay of great quality, that was used for making roof tiles that you could even find on the walls of really old houses instead of wood panelling. In addition, pottery for food storage was made on a large scale. The pottery tradition started out with brown glazed jars in different sizes and with modest designs for food storage, then evolved into great brands like Gann Graveren, Figgjo, Stavangerflint and Egersunds fayance, brands that we all know and love.

 

My grandmothers generation were the last ones to use these jars in the traditional sense, for preparation and storage of food. Nowadays you can buy them in antique- or thrift stores, if you're not lucky enough as to have one handed down to you. Nowadays they are mostly used for plants or kitchen utensils. They are very popular locally (I think elsewhere to), and this, of course, is reflected in the prices. My gran (rest her soul) would probably faint if she knew how much I paid for mine....

 

 

Some of this pottery are being produced at Sandnes still, by a pottery maker called "Pottemaker Simonsen". The little traditional flute (front, left) and the little bowl are from his shop. My jars however, I have three medium sized ones (two of them shown here with plants) and a big one (34 cm tall), are around a hundred years old and still going strong. I really treasure them, they add a sense of warmth and tradition to my house, and of course, remind me of home...

 

 

I'm hunting for the large, original version of this little bowl. It looks the same but is much larger, and was used for the preparation of food as well as baking.