The Star: July 11, 2024

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The Star Thursday July 11 2024 18 NEWS Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz Market for ceramics booming despite the bite of recession Ceramic art is making a big comeback in Christchurch. Jenn Loh reports POTTERY IS having a revival, and Christchurch’s ceramic arts scene has never been more alive. For many, such as Tegan Bray, the artist behind business Tegan Makes, pottery started out as a creative outlet while raising her young family. She never imagined it would evolve into becoming her own boss. Bray had dabbled in different forms of ceramics while completing a fine arts degree at Massey University, but it wasn’t until the Covid-19 pandemic that her distinctive style was forged. “The lockdown happened and I was battling being hideously under-prepared without a craft project. So, I got some clay, and just started tinkering from home,” she said. Tegan Makes’ signature use of speckled clay came about as a necessity due to material shortages of white clay during the pandemic, but has now become a distinctive selling point. She hand-paints all the designs, many of which are inspired by her children. Bray showcased her work on social media and became a stallholder at the biannual Encraftment market in 2020. Demand went through the roof. “Suddenly, I was working every evening in between my infant daughter waking up and feeding and I would work till midnight every night.” She was taken aback by people’s willingness to buy hand-made mugs when commercially available ones are cheaper, especially given the financial pressures from the rising cost of living. STYLE: Tegan Bray has a love for all things colourful and fun, which she channels into her ceramic creations from her home studio. PHOTOS: JENN LOH She attributes pottery’s popularity to the so-called “lipstick effect”, an economic phenomenon where consumers seek out small affordable luxuries such as lipstick during times of recession. “I have a lot of comments from people saying they love the ritual of picking their favourite mug in the morning, and getting excited to drink from it and starting the day that way.” Penny de Jong, president of the Canterbury Potters’ Association, said there’s been a significant increase in membership in the association in recent years. She said it is encouraging so many young people are showing an interest in the craft. “Pottery’s having a resurgence at the moment. Like all things, its popularity is cyclical. It was big in the 70s and 80s and we’re seeing it pick back up again now.” CPA member Riley Fagan creates ceramics as a hobby alongside his job as a freelance video editor, but would like to eventually work with ceramics full-time. He initially thought he would do this by selling his creations at markets, but quickly discovered his preferred style of work was too intricate and timeconsuming to sustainably be sold at such a scale. Fagan, a Canadian, was living and travelling around New Zealand in his van until he found more permanent residence in Christchurch after enrolling in a pottery course. He found the city to have an excellent craft community that was large enough to build connections, but small enough to still stand out in. Several of Fagan’s Instagram reels have gone viral on social media, garnering more than two million views between them. He was surprised to find the vast majority of views were from international audiences, fuelling his hope to showcase his work to a global audience. “There are people who travel around exhibiting their work. I hadn’t even really considered that as a possibility, but maybe one day,” Fagan said. “I think I’m just going to keep making (social media) videos for now – the same type of stuff that people seem to enjoy watching and I enjoy making.” POTTER: Canada-born ceramics artist Riley Fagan and some of his creations.
Thursday July 11 2024 The Star 19 ALL ACCESS Iconic Chapel & Crematorium OPEN DAY Sunday 14 July – 10.30am to 1.30pm After being closed for a year for an extensive upgrade our Open Day will give you the rare opportunity for an all access tour of Harewood Chapel, surrounding facilities and grounds: • See the expertly crafted renovations to the chapel, catering lounge, and courtyard. • Visit the cremator and have the cremation process explained by our expert team. • Tour the stunning gardens, enjoy the ambience and learn about their history. • Morning tea will be served in our catering lounge. PLUS: If we have more than 50 people attend the Open Day we will be donating $1,000 each to the following five amazing local community organisations as part of our re-opening celebrations. Sands Canterbury – supporting local parents and families who have experienced the death of a baby. BrainTree - supporting people with neurological conditions to live well in the community. Youth Alive Trust – supporting the youth of New Brighton since 1989. Richmond Community Garden – Leading the charge in food resilience, ecological restoration and community engagement in the Red Zone. Satisfy Food Rescue North Canterbury – bridging the gap by redirecting the abundance of food in our community to where it is needed. Come along to the Open Day and just by attending you will be helping us to support five very special local groups. We also want to give people the opportunity to be rewarded for coming along on the day: We’ve got a $50 voucher to give away to the 50th, 100th and 150th person to enter the chapel, plus everyone who completes our simple questionnaire goes in the lucky draw to win $100. Perhaps most importantly there will be a coffee cart on-site providing FREE continuous coffee! The Open Day is also an opportunity for you to chat with the funeral companies who will have exclusive use of Harewood Chapel: • John Rhind Funeral Directors Christchurch & Kaiapoi • Academy Funeral Home • Simplicity Funerals Christchurch They will be able to advise on prearrangements, prepayments or simply chat about what funeral providers can offer in today’s ever changing world. See you there! Meet the funeral homes who will have exclusive use of Harewood Chapel: Harewood Chapel, Harewood Memorial Gardens and Crematorium are located on Wilkinsons Road, Harewood P 03 359 9039 / harewoodcrematorium.co.nz/open-day
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The Star: July 11, 2024

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