Meet the mum shaping family life and clay at JS Ceramics

Ceramics, business, motherhood, and moving on shape a life well-lived for this happy family of three.

Words + Photography Alice Veysey

For four-year-old Tillie, decoratively painting the outside of the water jar rather than the paper that all the other preschoolers are painting pictures on just feels like the natural thing to do. When your mum is a ceramic artist and you’re often surrounded by vessels and glazes, it does kind of make sense.

Mum and business owner Jen Watt, 42, is newer to parenthood than she is to ceramics. 20 years into her career as the owner, designer and chief maker at JS ceramics, she’s found becoming a parent has hugely changed the way she does business and life.

Prior to Tillie’s arrival, Jen and husband Tom, 43, ran their successful Te Puna, Tauranga-based business together with a team of six, supplying various ceramic offerings to stores all over New Zealand.

Jen’s clay journey began over two decades ago when she picked up a job working for another potter. “When I walked into the ceramics workshop for the first time, I was immediately taken with the process of making ceramics and the seemingly endless possibilities of what could be created. The magical transformation of the kiln firings... I guess you could say an appreciation for the medium was born.” With all the equipment close at hand, newly inspired Jen began experimenting in her own time, growing her love for the artform.

When the potter Jen was working for closed up shop, she bought some of the equipment and began her own business. Over the years, the work that’s been produced by JS Ceramics has morphed and developed, which Jen says has helped to keep her engaged and passionate.

“We take a lot of inspiration from nature and tend towards organic or free-form shapes with a hand built feel to them. All our materials are NZ-sourced. Our main clay supplier is in the Waikato. Our clay is a mixture of stoneware and porcelain, with added oxides, stains and Coromandel black sand for colour and texture. The colours we use are natural tones I've noticed on my nature walks. For example our sage clay colour is inspired by the soft, mossy undergrowth of the beech forests that we've hiked through in central Otago”.

The production process that has become the mainstay of JS ceramics is called slip casting. Jen explains, “liquid clay (slip) is poured into plaster moulds until it forms an outer skin (the skin is the casting or hollow clay design) which is then removed when it's slightly dry or 'leather hard'. In some cases we modify the slip cast shapes, by carving, hole making, or joining two or more pieces together with a little extra slip. They're then trimmed and smoothed, and thoroughly dried, ready for their bisque firing. We design and make our own plaster moulds using a combination of hand building and wheel throwing techniques to create unique shapes.

16 years into the business, JS Ceramics was humming. Jen and Tom had built a team and systems; production was busy. They had a wide range of ceramic items on offer through both wholesale and retail, but with a baby on the way and covid days upon them, Jen and Tom were ready for a change.

“Over the lockdown we had time to think about the future and decided to consolidate the business, with Tom eventually taking work in the kiwifruit industry and me working on a downsized version of the studio”.

Along with downsizing the staff and volume of output at the time, Jen opted to concentrate on smaller collections of key ceramic pieces. There are the tried and tested favourites like the coffee mugs, plates and bowls along with some decorative items such as vases and candle holders. 

“In more recent years, it’s been myself and another local mum Teresa McClean running the studio; both of us working a few days a week, around family life. I’ve also had someone helping with the accounts. Admin has never been my strength. Tom pops in from time to time when he can to do kiln repairs and other jobs that require a bit of extra man power or technical know-how”.

This pared back version of the business allowed Jen to find the balance that fitted with her stage of life. Tillie being at daycare three days a week provided Jen with some uninterrupted studio time. Everything is close which also helps - home is a few hundred metres down the road from the studio and daycare is also in the neighbourhood.

When Tillie’s not at daycare, she can often be found ‘helping’ mum at the studio and it’s evident that working with clay is in her blood. She sits enthusiastically at the pottery wheel leaning into the process. With her apron on and her sleeves rolled, she gets stuck into the blob of clay while mum guides her hands and works the wheel.

Tillie’s life learnings as the daughter of a potter are evident in how she manages herself amongst the multitudes of fragile items in the studio. She carefully handles the delicate items. Using brown paper, she wraps some ramekins, then creates her own collection of precious objects, gathering things into a cardboard box. Tillie then continues to keep herself busy, pottering around after her mum. Jen laughs, “she probably thinks everyone’s mum does this”.

When asked how she’s has found the journey into parenthood, Jen shares; “It wasn't easy for me to get pregnant at 38, and for a couple of years I had more or less made my peace with the idea of a future with just Tom and I. Tillie was an unexpected blessing and we have absolutely loved being parents from the moment she was born. She's a ray of sunshine in our lives, with her hilarious sense of humour, quirky personality and just her general 'joie de vivre' vibe. It didn't occur to me how fun it would be to have another little person in our family who looks a bit like you, gets your silly jokes and likes the same foods and adventures as you – all good surprises.”

And on adapting to motherhood as a business owner, Jen says “I ultimately end up not doing some things I may have seen as significant before... I've become more focused, in a good way. I've had to become a lot more adaptable with interruptions and delays. It's been worth adjusting expectations and ambitions there, but also putting things in place so that the business can handle it.”

With Tillie past the baby stage and Jen enjoying a more simplified business model, there was a little more breathing space.

Along with the core collection of ceramics that are consistently sold through the website, a 'Small Batch' collection was established earlier this year. These are one-off or limited editions of work that she and co-designer Teresa are inspired to create in the moment. They're a combination of slip cast and slab-built pieces, that are hand painted with a vibrant palette of modernist inspired colours and designs. “We take inspiration from various sources; artwork that we love, travel etc. Some of the pieces have touches of traditional European vase/urn shapes. Often it's what we'd create for our own homes”.

The future of JS Ceramics has morphed again more recently, as Jen has decided to take a further back seat in the business. Whilst still passionate about the creative process, she has handed over the reins and day to day work of JS Ceramics to Teresa McClean. It’s been a journey to get to this point, and Jen shares she's excited to see where Teresa will take the collection in the future.

When asked what she’d like to pass on to Tillie through her work and experience, Jen says “Problem solving, adaptability and creativity. Sometimes you can make (or fix) something yourself instead of buying it. There is also a simple joy and reward of having accomplished something tangible at the end of each day.” 

To learn more about JS Ceramics, visit jsceramics.nz or follow on Instagram @js_ceramics.