Illyria Pottery

About a month before I left sunny Florida for magical Oxford, I saw something on Andrew Peterson's (of The Rabbit Room) Instagram that caught my eye because he was in Oxford. He posted about playing a show at Illyria Pottery in a village north of Oxford called Jericho. I knew I was going to Oxford a month later, so I investigated because I wanted to know all about it. I learned that the pottery shop was run by Katie and her husband, Micah, who are from Greenville, SC, but live in Oxford while Micah pursues a doctorate in English Literature. While he studies in the Bodleian Libraries all day (seems like a dream to me), Katie runs her own shop in a foreign country, learning the process of running a business as she goes. She has created a most lovely gallery that is rustic, charming, creative, and full of beautiful pottery.

I thought it would be fun to connect with someone while in Oxford, and I made a challenge to myself to reach out to make a new acquaintance. Being the introvert that I am, this is always a challenge for me. But I emailed Katie a few weeks before I left for England, and told her I was coming to Oxford (I may have waxed on about how much I love Oxford), and she invited me to come visit her, perhaps wondering why this random Floridian was contacting her.

The shop is a special little spot. Katie makes all her pieces there on site. Each one is unique and beautiful. Downstairs she has a large, bright work space with a kiln ready to fire the pieces. Her whole shop is stocked with her work, only. That's very impressive!

I walked up to Jericho one morning on the second week of my stay in Oxford, and met Katie at her shop. She was working on some pieces that morning, and she brought me downstairs so I could see. She also explained her process. It takes several weeks to produce a finished piece, with several firings in the kiln, and the end result is not always predictable. The colours change and come out different each time. She was gracious in her time as we stood there and talked for awhile about life, Oxford, Greenville, and the churches in England. Also, as it turns out, we discovered that she was born in a town about twenty minutes south of where I live now.

I only bought a couple of small pieces, because of my limited space for traveling back to the States, but there were several others I wanted to buy. It was delightful to meet such a creative soul while I was in Oxford, and I hope we meet again sometime!

For more information, visit http://illyriapottery.co.uk/