Introducing the Poole Pottery Butterfly Collection
Poole Pottery has become synonymous with collectables over its long history. Recently, we’ve released a series of innovative small collectables, each created as a uniquely shaped animal. Previous additions have included birds and fish, but this year, our design team wanted to create something a little different – a piece of wall art for the home.
As always, the much-loved Poole patterns have been reinterpreted to suit the new form. Maya, Ocean, Horizon, and Celestial all work particularly well with the Butterfly Collection, complementing the carefully crafted, intricate shape of this winged design.
Available in both large and small sizes, each butterfly is furnished with a recess on the back for easy hanging. Butterflies can be purchased individually or collected in multiples to create something much more dramatic on the wall.
How Poole Pottery is made is just as important as how it looks. Every piece is handcrafted in Staffordshire by a dedicated team of craftspeople, from design to sales and everything in between. We thought you might enjoy learning a little more about how a collectable piece of Poole – like the new Butterfly Collection – comes to life.
Shape Design
Poole has a dedicated design team constantly creating new shapes, developing glazes, and working with a skilled decorating team who interpret these ideas into stunning pieces collectors adore. Gary Hawley has been working on the Poole small animals’ collection for a number of years and particularly enjoyed creating the butterfly shape.
We asked Gary about his inspiration for this collection...
"The inspiration for the Poole butterfly’s is very simple, colour. I can’t think of a more beautiful but colourful insect than the butterfly. I have always been fascinated by insects and bugs and as Poole is synonymous with bright colour and amazing glazes simply pairing such a graceful shape with a fantastic palette of colours and effects seems appropriate. Of course, butterflies are far from simple. Nature is incredibly diverse and a butterfly’s wings when studied under a lens really illustrate that, their immense detail and complexity. Its an entire cosmos captured in the most delicate and fragile of creatures. My aim was to try and reflect that delicacy in form and material. The illusion of weightlessness was a challenge; ceramics isn’t typically known for floating! To create a shape that showcased the techniques and glazes created by Poole’s craftspeople and thanks to their skills and incredible eye for detail seeing several butterflies on a wall to me, truly reflects a kaleidoscope; the collective name of a group of butterflies in flight."
Surface Design
As with all Poole wares, the vibrant patterns are a huge part of the appeal. These are perfected by Design Glaze Manager Sarah Redfern, who practises the complex art of creating stunning colour mixes that bring each shape to life.
The magic of the glaze happens in the kiln. Before firing, the colours appear flat and monotone – but after firing, they can resemble anything from a swirling ocean to a faraway galaxy.
Decoration
Poole’s highly skilled paintresses work from a calm, focused studio space at Middleport Pottery, where all Poole is produced. Here, they hand-apply layers of liquid glaze, building them up one by one, always with an understanding that the final piece will transform in the kiln.
Each butterfly is finished with a small signature where possible – a final touch of craftsmanship – before being carefully packed and sent from Stoke-on-Trent to customers and retailers across the UK and beyond.
These pieces aren’t just beautiful – they’re future heirlooms.