Summer Collection: Petal Pink Pots

When I came to Haida Gwaii for a summer job in 2012, I was taken by the importance food played in many people’s lives. 

Partially because of the toll that remoteness takes on food (the high cost and sad quality that comes from travelling hundreds of kilometers and on multiple ferries), but also because of a desire to be self-reliant, resourceful, and in rhythm with the seasonal cycles, as the Haida people have for time immemorial.

I eagerly soaked up all I could about living (and eating) by the seasons and now much of our leisure time is spent growing, harvesting, preserving, and enjoying our food.

While often we harvest with sustenance and nourishment in mind, making sure our freezers and pantry shelves are filled before winter, other times it’s purely for pleasure.

And for me, the most delicious and dreamy are the petals of the Nootka Rose (SGidGangxal in Haida). 

This wild rose is found in wet places along the coast, and when blooming, the petals vary from deep rosy magenta, especially when their buds are first emerging, fading to the softest bubblegum pink.

“Its fragrance fills the air in a sea-side habitat.”

Every June I look forward to picking them sea-side in the warm, evening light, surrounded by their sweet fragrance. Like duck eggs have become a sure sign of spring, seeing the nootka roses in bloom all around town is my sure sign of summer… especially in a place where summer often feels like it’s always juuuuuust around the corner and January happens annually.  

So on a dreary day in late winter while yearning for summer, I felt pulled to create another small collection of pink pots.

Adapting a glaze recipe, generously shared by Joe at Old Forage Creations, “Nootka Rose” is a delicate, soft glossy pink, often pale as the fading petals, sometimes with dabbles of deep petal pink.

Now, the glaze didn't behave quite the way I'd planned.  Some major kiln woes outside of my control meant the colour on some of the pots fired paler than I'd envisioned, and are a much softer, paler blush pink, closer to a sun soaked, soon-to-drop petal.  

But I’ve re-reminded myself  that "Expectations are the thief of joy in ceramics," (a quote once wisely shared by Natalie @fledgingstudios), and have come around to this subtler, more gentle pink.

Alongside my usual mugs, bud vases, and serving trays, I also made tiny dishes shaped like petals, as well as some flower frogs, to help hold your summer flowers. Everything is dreamy, and delicious, and just sings of summer.

And just like rose petal jelly spread on buttered sourdough fills me with delight on dark winter mornings, I hope these pots will do the same every time you pull them off the shelf.

Here’s what’s in the collection:

• Small mugs

• Bud Vases

• Tiny petal dishes

• Dangly earrings

• Flower Frogs

• Mid-sized serving dishes

How to put some petal pink pots on your shelf this summer:

The collection will be available around the summer solstice.

If you'd like early access (plus $10 off your first order), you're warmly invited to join my Studio News list! Subscribers get a password a day early to shop before I open the doors publicly.

And if reading this has you inspired to go pick some wild rose petals, here’s a few harvesting tips:

• Harvest in the morning or evening, instead of the heat of the mid-day.

• Don’t pick the full flower - bunch the petals and gently tug, leaving the pistils and stamens behind. This will allow a rose hip to still form.

• Leave one or two petals on each flower, so that the bees still recognize it as a flower.