Driven by a reverence for both the craft and the object, Feldspar creates beautiful fine bone china pieces designed to weather the trends of time.
Moving from East London to the vast, energising space of rugged Dartmoor in 2015 unleashed a rush of creativity for husband-and-wife founders Cath and Jeremy Brown. What began as a hobby and a desire to create rather than buy, has grown into a luxury brand producing storied pieces with a simple aesthetic and a distinctively tactile profile.
Dedicated to preserving the critically endangered craft of bone china production in the UK, Feldspar is far more than a product collection, it represents a British craft movement. Every element is rooted in honesty, integrity and the highly personal.
We meet Cath to talk about their journey, their deep consideration of the environment and why ceramics is just the start.
Can you tell us how Feldspar began and how your passion became a brand?
We started making ceramics after moving to Devon back in 2015. It was primarily simply because we needed some plates and bowls for our families who were coming to stay, but we had the time and the space to experiment making them ourselves. So we bought a pottery wheel off a potter on Dartmoor and set about teaching ourselves. We loved it, so without much of a (business) plan we set to building Feldspar!
Your ethos is to create ‘Objects for Life’ – what do you mean by this and why does this drive you?
‘Objects for Life’ covers both our key maxims in just three words. Everything we make is an object both for everyday life, designed to be perfectly functional and useful, and they are also objects made properly – the old-fashioned way, by hand – to last a lifetime. The time and energy and materials that go into making anything, even things we think of as very simple necessities, like mugs, are vast. We wanted to shine a light on this – on appreciating the craft, while also having a beautiful object to keep forever.
How integral are your surroundings to what you produce?
Our life in Devon is pretty key to the business, not just in the physical space that being here allows us to inhabit, but also the headspace and the quiet of not being bombarded by shops full of ‘stuff’ the entire time!
Alongside the production by a family pottery in Stoke on Trent, half of the production and all of the hand painting now takes place at your Devon workshops. Why is it important to you that you produce everything from start to finish in England?
It’s vital. We used to have a huge ceramics industry in this country and now some of the biggest names only ‘design’ in England and produce their wares on the other side of the world. We felt it was important not to lose that heritage. The craft and generational skills in this industry are invaluable and yet it’s listed as ‘critically endangered’ by the Heritage Crafts Association – so to be a tiny part of keeping these skills going is so important to us.
Who and where do you draw your inspiration from?
We sometimes look to antiques we have, or things our grandparents used for decades and draw inspiration from those. Not so much the actual items, but the ideas and feelings that they inspired. My Granny used the same stand mixer to make her famous mashed potato for over 50 years, and it still works today. That kind of longevity – both in function and in use – is what inspires us. We use new designs for months before deciding to put anything into production – they need to work perfectly and prove themselves useful!
How do you work together? Do you take on different responsibilities within the business?
Yes – we have very different skill sets so can divide the running of the business pretty effectively! Jeremy is the creator – he designs and makes prototypes, as well as being very good with plans, numbers and spreadsheets. Whereas I am more customer-facing, dealing with the day to day as well as all the marketing and communications. We are also supported by a brilliant team here in Devon. There is no way we could still do all this on our own!
A deep consideration for the environment runs through every element of Feldspar. How challenging is it to ensure that everything, from production to packaging, is sustainably produced?
Using no plastic was always non-negotiable for us, and that’s tricky when you’re sending fragile items around the world, but we’ve always found solutions that are either paper or made from natural ingredients. Our packing chips are made from naturally derived starch and dissolve in water when you need to dispose of them; they’re genius. In terms of production, ceramics produces very little waste – the key issue is that we require a lot of power. At our current workshop we have a wind turbine that supplements the power we use, and we’re looking into investing in solar panels to help with our needs. It’s an aspect of the business that’s consistently under review.
What’s next for you both and for Feldspar?
We are launching furniture later this year. It’s something Jeremy has been working on for years so we’re very excited about that. We’ve also been working on a lighting collection – we’re taking over the whole house!
Shop our Feldspar collection here
