Production | Kreta Keramik

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High-quality, custom made terracotta vessels from befriended Cretan workshops. Produced using century old traditional craftsmanship – they were daily use ceramics yesterday turned into frost-resistant terracotta ceramics for planting and decoration.

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The beginnings of the Cretan craftsmanship lies in the antiques and continued throughout centuries until today.

The vessels and terracotta amphora from those days are at display in all important museums of the western world. Not only the legendary 4000 year old storage vessel discoveries in the palace of Knossos have a striking resemblance with the pottery produced today.

For many centuries irreplaceable, they served as a refrigerator and storage container for the storage of almost all essential foods such as oil, water, wine, cereals. They were also used for transport and not only as transport container via roads but – as numerous underwater finds show – shiploads of goods were loaded stacked and transported on sea vessels using lying pointed amphorae.

When working with textiles and fabrics began to demand ceramic utilities the form of the so-called dyers pot was developed. The design and appearance of ceramic initially always stood in relation to the functionality of the utility needed. The idea of using ceramics for decorating is modern. The use of vessels for planting arose in connection with the popularity of orangeries in 17./18. century. Neither has played much of a role in the old Greece. With the upcoming of newer materials, especially the plastics alongside more modern industrial production techniques, the ceramic storage vessels came out of fashion and the potter families struggled to sustain their livelihood.

It is thanks to the support of UNESCO that the international cultural heritage is being kept alive in Crete as the only place in Europe,allowing family workshops and cooperatives do continue producing not only, but especially amphorae, large pottery and terracotta planter pottery. The fact that the vessels have proven to be frost resistant in Central and Northern European climates has additionally helped secure the continuation of their production.

Terrakotta (ital. ‘Terra cotta’), initially translated merely “burnt earth” and has become synonymous to us as a general term for un-glazed ceramic products and garden ceramics and stands for the warm, earthy reddish hue which is so typical for this ceramic.

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In the traditional combination of building and turning the clay each vessel is being build by hand on a special potters wheel. Today’s difference being that the wheel is not exclusively turned by hand but partially by electricity.

In the contrary to this technique the terracotta pottery and decoration elements of this size being produced in Asia or e.g. the so called Impruneta Ceramic from Italy is largely build using moulds and forms.

The shaping of the vessel, easily recognized by the parallel running finger creasing on the inside of the wall leads to a thinness of the vessel which makes it significantly lighter that the moulded equivalent. This makes the handling of the pottery a lot easier. (Every now and then the opinion is circulated that the thicker the wall of a vessel the more frost resistant is wrong as the two issues are completely untelated). the clay used is locally sourced and not technically tempered with leading to a rough, sometimes broken surface with inclusions of chalk or stone splinters which is the basis for the varying yellow and red shades of the product.

Those will finally be preserved in the burning process for which large chamber ovens are used, partially traditionally heated by timber but more and more often using environmentally more apporpriate natural gasoline. Temperatures of up to 1100 degrees Celsius are sealing the porous clay so tightly that water filled vessels can be considered water tight and usually only “imbue” but not leak.

In any case the terracotta planters have proven to be completely frost resistant, hecne can spend the entire year in the outdoors with or without plants.

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Pictures from our workshop visit to Crete

Compared to pictures from the late 1950′ or early 1960′ you can see how unchanged the traditional shapes as well as the construction techniques have remained.

The use of electricity made a difference away from sweaty, hard work and physically very unhealthy techniques of manually turning the table.
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Rolling out the clay string

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First clay string placed on the vessel head

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Smoothing the wall with the simplest wooden tool

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Placing further clay strings

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Each large vessel “grows” step by step, several vessels at a time

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Placing ribbon ornaments that indeed are needed to strengthen various segments of the vessel

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Fixing the handles

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Final details

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Large vessel “Yucca” drying on the potters wheel

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The large vessels have to be moved by two people with care and experience using helping aids like textiles and rags.

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Historical pictures of the production techniques

These pictures pre-date the use of electric power in traditional pottery in the late 1950′ and early 1960′.

They do allow a peek into historical workshops as the documented working conditions do show the exact procedured and working conditions which have been used and not much amended for centuries.

Origin: „R. Hampe / A. Winter / Bei Töpfern und Töpferinnen in Kreta, Messenien und Zypern. 1962. Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz“ (18) und „B. Psaropulu / N. Simantirakis, Thrapsano: Chorio ton Aggioplaston. Athen 2007.“ (9)
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Preparation of the clay: breaking the chunks with a simple wooden peg

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Individual larger bales of clay are formed through manual preparations

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Setup of the kiln

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Setup of the kiln

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The use of sand leads to a better distribution of the heat and prevents the “burning” of the vessel to the threshing floor.

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Work station of the Potter, potter’s wheels

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Preparation of the various work stations, a sitting cloth for the Master

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In this early stage of forming the vessel the potter can sit and the potter’s wheel is being turned by his foot

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Placing the next string of clay

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Forming of the vessel by the Master, the only job of the kneeling aids is the manual moving of the potter’s wheel

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working the clay

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Forming the rim

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Attaching the handles

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Drying of the vessels in the sun before being kilned

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Transporting the large vessels to the kiln either with 4 hands or with simple tools like textiles, cloth or rags.

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Careful positioning of the Vessels in the kiln

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Traditional Kiln

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Every piece a “one in a kind”.
Erk Kanis, Inhaber