a Ferme de la Mer tm

About La Ferme de la Mer's Pottery: 

The most complete line of authentic reproductions of classical French regional and Provençal clayware available in the USA

        Imagine what daily life in early 18^th Century life in France must have been like…Modern conveniences that we take for granted, like electricity, refrigeration, or even plastic containers just did not exist. However an abundance of foods, grains, oils and beverages needed to be stored somehow. Porcelain was at best available only to a select wealthy few. Life in that era was filled with locally crafted utilitarian objects that appeared in every household, varying in shape and style from region to region. Today, the beauty we attribute to such mundane every day utensils may have indeed surprised Pre-Revolutionary French, who simply used items, rather than admired their attractiveness. During this time lead glazes became popular for their ability to make earthenware pottery objects less porous, and therefore more useful to carry, prepare, serve and store or conserve foods, oils and beverages. Such lead glazes traditionally were providing local potters for the first time with the opportunity to create artful objects with rich hues in browns, yellows, and greens.

Our Designs and their Regional Heritage

It has become a labor of love for us to scour the markets and merchants along the French countryside in order to find rare antique treasures that are steeped in the history of the people and their towns. Each shape and style in our Pottery line represents our efforts to replicate these age-old designs from the various regions in France. Our "Polka Dots" pattern, for instance, was romantically known as "à la Lune" referring to the small full moons that are found in pottery from the Savoie region. Our two-colored drip-glazes, known as "Degoulinant" are typical of the town of Vallauris in the region of "le Provence", where you will also find the marbleized "Jaspé" of the town of Apt.

     How our Pottery is made 

     La Ferme de la Mer recreates this era's pottery by using the same ancient production methods: All pottery is truly hand-made. Authentic clays are selected. Shaping is done by hand, without molds, on potter's wheels without motors. Pottery is then fired in primitive wood fired ovens, anywhere from 7 to 24 hours, which is much longer than that of modern mass production methods. All painting is done by hand. We carefully selected our proprietary pigments to reflect true Provence and French colors. Perhaps the best testament that we have as to the authenticity of our reproductions is the fact that our pottery graces the shelves of many Museum-stores in the USA and abroad. 

Product Use and Safety Concerns

          We have brought the brilliance of the ancient glazes into the 20th century, without the use of lead. La Ferme de la Mer's glazes have been determined by the U.S. Merchandise Testing Laboratory to be lead/cadmium free, and technically, are food safe.

"Antiqued" pots may be dirty, just as true antiques would be.

 Product Care

      The antique production methods that we strive to adhere to leave us with a beautiful, but fragile glaze on our pottery. As such, our products are not resistant to high temperatures and chemical treatment, and therefore are not microwave or dishwasher safe. Occasionally, the delicate nature of the glaze may cause pottery to seep. We suggest trying an old European remedy handed down from one of our Grandmothers: leave some  milk in the pot overnight and your problem should be cured.