I discovered a ceramics studio recently that has been active since 1945 in Australia by the same family --  Have you heard of Robert Gordon? They have a factory outside of Melbourne with a staff of 30 and have recently taken on an agent in the United States, too. They not only design pieces for everyday living, but work with restaurants to produce custom made pottery which made me think about my own cafe/design shop dreams and how wonderful it would be to have custom wares for it someday. Well imagine that. They recently did a fit out for E.P. in Los Angeles, so location and delivery is also not an issue so you don't need to live down under to enjoy the fruits of their meticulously crafted labor.

I recently spoke to Kate Gordon who is their head of design and product development, and learned that she has a textile design background but since she was always so involved in her family business of pottery, it was a natural fit to combine her ceramics knowledge with developing product ranges for the Robert Gordon brand with her lovely pattern ideas. Kate is inspired by her travels, Pinterest, thrift shops, magazines, blogs, American decor and crafting and mostly, her family and their commitment to creating beautiful pottery. She is also inspired by shops like Anthropologie, Petershams Nursery in London and Daylesford Organics in the Cotswolds. She takes her inspirations and translates them into the range giving it very broad appeal since, as you can see, nothing about it is same-y or boring. There is a design for everyone. I personally like their Life, large Monument Vases (the colors! swoon!), Tapas, Terra... But for me, the Serene Series is my all-time favorite. I just love it!

Lucy at the Design Files wrote such a gorgeous piece about them and their company, you really have to read it, it's so lovely.

(Photography: Jarrod Barnes.