On Canadian Stoneware

We have been working at a leisurely pace so far, stopping by different places where we might want to register, talking about all of the little accoutrements of shared living. What cups do we like? What forks do we like? Spoons? What color plates? It’s odd, because it all seems so trivial, but these domestic artifacts will always be there as we live our lives.  People like meanings. We like adding symbolic or emotional significance to things. You have something in your kitchen for long enough, you will probably build some emotional attachment to it. This is even more pronounced when there is something significant about how you got it. Like, for instance, as a wedding gift.

Among the most prized kitchenwares in my family are the mugs, goblets, platters and bowls we have gotten from Don Dubois Pottery in Wiarton, ON. I remember reading an old newspaper item from the local paper, about how he had moved out to Wiarton from the city (presumably Toronto)  to open his studio with a view of Colpoys Bay. The studio is the ground floor of his house, with a basic showroom, smelling of hardwood and wet clay. The pottery is displayed on small wooden shelves or laid out in crates floored with rounded pebbles. My family has been buying pottery at Dubois’ shop for at least fifteen years. Dubois stoneware goblets and coffee mugs are comforting features of family gatherings at my parents’ house, my grandmother’s house, the cottage in Canada, and now my apartment. The heft of the stoneware vessels, the colorful glazes (smooth on the inside, rougher on the outside)… they mean family, rootedness, and comfort.