I had this plan in mind for Thursday, but it rained torrentially that day, so I moved it to yesterday. And what a fabulous day it was! I’ve known about Guy Wolff’s garden pottery for a long time, but it wasn’t at the forefront of my mind until my friend Tracie posted a photo of a favorite GW pot on Instagram. (Thank you, Tracie!) He’s very famous and when Martha Stewart started featuring his work (she collects his pots) and also gave one of his pots to Oprah Winfrey, his fame increased.
So I googled him because I wanted to order one of his pots and it turns out he lives and works in Connecticut. Hello! Practically right next door! Yesterday, GPS in hand, I drove to his studio in Bantam, CT. (Stopped to pick up flowers at Trader Joe’s, of course).
The area of Connecticut in which he lives and works is gorgeous.
His website said that they’re nearly always working and the shop is open daily so stop by – and I did. This is the shop. In the same building, but behind the shop, is the studio where he and his wife throw the pots. I don’t know how much you know about Guy Wolff, but go to his website and google him, as well. He has a love for antique pots and works in that tradition. He is a master craftsman and artist and has a love for history that is referenced in his work. He comes from a family of artists (his father was an abstract expressionist painter) and his parents were friends with Alexander Calder. Marcel Breuer was his uncle. Quite the lineage!
I walked in the shop and said hello to another woman who was shopping. Her words to me: Get ready to become addicted.
Truer words were never spoken.
I wanted to buy everything and my senses were on overload.
As I started to pick the pots I wanted to buy, in came Guy!
Oh my gosh, he is the nicest person, so friendly, so warm and down-to-earth. We proceeded to chat for almost two hours! We talked about everything: theater, life as an artist and the strain of making ends meet (we all encounter this challenge), his children, movies, music, and of course, his pottery. I can’t even begin to relate everything we talked about, but I had such a great time. His wife, Erica Warnock, joined us at one point and it turns out she was student at Boston University in the theater department just a few years before I joined the faculty. So we had all of that in common.
Guy is also a musician and he plays the guitar and the banjo and he treated me to a mini-concert on a banjo from 1881, which someone dropped off at the studio as a gift for him. (I shot a video of him playing and sent it to Don.) He and Don would get on like a house afire – they’re also the same age, so I’m going to take Don there when he returns from California.
Little did I know when I stopped by to buy some pots that I would be there all afternoon. He also showed me the pots he has designed that are either based on actual shards found at Presidential homes like Monticello, or evocative of the style and/or clay found at Presidential historic sites; Roosevelt’s home, Hyde Park, for example. There are several designs and they’re beautiful. (Next on my “must have” list.)
I was amazed and overwhelmed by the selection but I went with my first love, his white pots.
I took this late in the day yesterday. Let me show you some closeups I took this morning.
This design is inspired by a pot found in Cornwall. The edge is called a pie crust edge.
The mark “G. Wolff” means the pot was made by Guy. The year is inscribed in the clay and the number 4 relates to the wet weight of the clay for that pot. It’s also signed on the bottom with his signature.
This is the largest pot I purchased. It’s gorgeous, as are all his pots.
Guy told me the pots marked 1 or 2 are made by his wife, Erica, and sure enough, there was her signature on the bottom. You’ll notice it’s also marked G. Wolff Pottery, indicating that someone other than Guy made it.
I bought four pots. One is a gift for a friend.
I’m simply crazy about these and I have no idea where I’m going to put them! I’m afraid to put them on the porch because of the intense winds we encounter here that sometimes knock things over!
I’ll figure it out.
I have to stop myself from driving right back there today and buying more pots. I’m so thrilled to finally own some Guy Wolff pots and, even more, to have the chance to get to know him a little. He and his wife are truly lovely.
His son, Ben, by the way, is also a potter and has a studio of his own now: Ben Wolff Pottery.
Happy Saturday.
I have also purchased gifts for friends from his wonderful selection of pottery. I enjoyed reading your post. It’s such a fun place to visit. The design inspired by a pot found in Cornwall – the town in Connecticut?
Have a lovely day. I’m off to a book sale at the library.
No, Mary, Cornwall, UK. His work is beautiful, isn’t it? Have fun at the book sale!
And now you have a cool story to go along with your cool pots! Such fun! ;)
Yes, as you know, I love it when the things I collect have a story!
LOVE this post, Claudia!I have several of his pots that I purchased at Restoration Hardware about 5 or 6 years ago. They are perfectly timeless, I’d love to have gone with you!
If you’re ever out this way, we’ll take a trip there, Debra! It’s really beautiful there, outside and inside.
I swooned when you showed these pots yesterday on IG. I of course, went to his website. I love the white pots and the piecrust edge. I see one of these in my future for sure. I wish I could visit his studio. Maybe one day when I finally make my way north to visit! So many fun places to visit! Hugs!
There are a lot of fun places to visit here, Linda! The piecrust edge is my favorite.
I am loving the pie crust topped, not too expensive either. Might be one in my future. This is the second Cornwall reference this week, Misi from 1890 Gablehouse posted photos of her trip to Cornwall and now this. I lived in Cornwall for a year 40 + years ago beautiful countryside. One more reference and we have “a hat trick”. Enjoy your weekend,
Hmmm….maybe there will be a hat trick, Mary!
I have 5 that I found quite by accident about 10? years ago. They are my absolute favorites also. I wish I had some white ones now : D
You can probably order them online, Suzan. They are awfully pretty, aren’t they? I want some of the terra cotta pots as well.
Wonderful pots – totally in love. Visited the web site, listened to music, wow. Thanks for sharing what you discovered.
Joy
You’re very welcome, Joy!
Claudia…. Thank you for sharing your day to day life with us…your likes, the things you do, Trader Joes, etc, your home, your yard, are so like mine,and others who read this blog, I look forward each day to seeing you, hearing from you , I live in a log home, by the timber, so your life feels very similar in many ways, again, thanks for visiting us each day, you are like a friend to us all ❤️Donna
Thank you so much for your kind words, Donna! They mean so much!
What a fun adventure! Those pots are beautiful—and what luck, getting to meet and talk with the potter. These North woods of ours are just bursting with surprises, aren’t they?
They sure are!
So enjoyed this post. I have been a fan of these pots for quite some time now. Would love to visit his studio. So reassuring to know what a nice person he is in real life, too. I’m glad you enjoyed your visit, Claudia, and hope you enjoy your beautiful pots. Thanks for sharing your visit with us. Can’t wait to see where you place your pots!
I still have no idea what I’m going to do with them – it isn’t as if we have any spare room!
How wonderful! Great adventure. I love hand made anything and have a soft spot for pots! Thanks for sharing … fun story of your day!
You’re welcome. He really is incredibly talented. A true artist.
What lovely products. You could spend a whole day there and still not see everything. Glad you had a good time and made some new friends.
Marilyn
Funny you should mention that, I know I missed some things! I have to go back!
I love planters and pots, and have to upgrade from the ones I have. I’ll definitely seek out the website. Glad you had such an unexpectedly long and enjoyable afternoon.
It turned out to be a lovely day, Wendy. Have a great weekend with your daughters!
What a truly lovely post!!! If these pots are good enough for Martha Stewart and Oprah, then certainly good enough for all of us too :-) How very fortunate you were to have met he and his wife and shared a chat!!!! As for uses for the pots…I’ve used pots for holding wash cloths, silverware, hand towels, recipes, socks, kitchen utensils, by the sink for dish soap and sponges… I really like the piecrust edges!
I do want to use them for plants, so I have to figure out what to put in them and, more importantly, where to put them!
What a fun trip you had, and I bet you can hardly wait to take Don there once he is home. Sounds like they absolutely must meet!!
The pots are beautiful. I just know you will find some interesting uses for them. They certainly could be used anywhere in the house. Hope you had a good day today, as well!!
I’ll put plants in them. Just figuring out what and where.
Isn’t it wonderful when an adventure turns out to be even more wonderful than you imagined it would be? Now to go check out those gorgeous pots!
It is. I needed a little adventure.
I love it when you take a road trip, Claudia! What a fun day you had; so very interesting. I can sense it was a real ‘shot in the arm’ for you; good medicine; good to get out and have an adventure.
Personally? I think I’d think twice before putting those gorgeous pots outside even though I’m sure they’re meant for all kinds of weather. These are collectibles; lovely works of art which would go so well in your beautiful cottage interiors.
We’d moved our glass patio table further up the hillside, protected by two natural fences (gigantic boxwood-style hedges). We even had the umbrella closed down on it. And the umbrella base, along with the table itself, were very weighty (it took a couple of the yard guys to carry t he stuff up there; no way could my husband do it himself). Anyway, a pretty good gust of wind came up (like a freak gust)…we couldn’t believe what then happened…and it toppled the umbrella and table, breaking the (what was supposed to be shatter-proof) glass top to smithereens. It was no small table; it would seat six people. Iron/metal; substantial table. Thick glass topper. And it only toppled a short distance…on dirt. I really, really miss this table. We’ve never replaced it; it was an expensive purchase for us at the time and it could’ve lasted for years and years yet. Darn.
I’ve also had ceramic pots which have gotten knocked over (broken) in the night by wildlife.
So, it’s not my best pottery that’s outside.
My mom’s lone/remaining (large) Bauer pot from the 1950s is safely INside my home rather than OUTside where, with her, it had stayed for nearly 50 years (thankfully in the rear yard rather than the front of the house where, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s companion Bauer pots were STOLEN even though we’d warned Mom that vintage Bauer was now worth protecting, all the decades later…and I know they were hers, not mine, but I absolutely LOVED those Bauer pots and I’ll probably never get over their theft!).
I have one Bauer pot and it is definitely inside!
I’ve had a few pots break during high winds. I’m pretty sure they’ll be inside, but we have limited space around here!
Yes, it was – something different!
Your pots are beautiful and what a wonderful day you had! I especially like his white pots and that pie crust edge. I’m going to check out his website!
The pots are really beautiful, Debbie and beautifully made.
The pots are lovely! I can see them as a new addiction..I mean collection! (HaHa)
I know! I’m afraid I’m addicted.