At home with... Naine Woodrow
Next year will see the 30th anniversary of North Street Potters. Naine Woodrow has been at the helm since the start and she tells Julian Hall how her shop has become such a long-standing and much-loved fixture in this enclave of Clapham Old Town
Above: North Street Potters
What were you doing before you came to North Street?
I grew up in Australia but in my 20s I went to Japan for five years, where I trained to be a potter. Japan was the Mecca for potters all over the world at that time (the 1970s), by the end of my stay I could make just about anything.
How did North Street Potters begin?
I had a job in a co-operative in Shoreditch where we all had to sit at the master's feet and make the same pots, there was no sense of individual artistic integrity. I wanted to set up a collective for women so I advertised in Spare Rib, the feminist magazine of the day. I was joined by Mary Neville (who stayed until 1990) and we worked from a short-life property across the road from where we are now on North Street. It was the borough valuer, who loved pots, who showed us our current location. It was derelict then, no toilet, no pipes, no nothing. We moved in on May Day 1978. The deal was that we had to open the shop almost immediately and that we could have it for a year rent free in lieu of doing it up.
How have things developed over the years?
We were going along quite happily until 1999 when, with Lambeth owing so much money to central government, the rent increased by 700%. I thought we were stuffed and I didn't think that any of us would have the energy to set up another pottery. A customer suggested setting a consortium, so I did. In 2000, 14 of us, mostly customers (absolutely loyal and devoted it's fantastic) and a few of the potters and their friends raised enough for me to buy the shop outright. We review the situation every five years, it's been terrifically successful.
How would you describe your day-to-day relationship with the customers?
When people walk into shop and they are usually served by a clay covered potter so it's a very real experience! The shop is like an Aladdin's Cave and almost everyone that steps in the door ends up buying something because they can afford it.
What kind of clients do you have other than those who visit the shop?
I get a lot of orders from Japanese restaurants and I did the whole Benihana Japanese restaurant chain for about four years. We also did the Sandy Lane hotel in Barbados and when the posh chefs arrived in the late 90s, we did things like pots for mussel soup for Gordon Ramsay and snail pots for Michel Roux. We've just done some things for Trinity, the restaurant in the Polygon, and for Tom Aikens' sous-chef's new restaurant in Dublin.
How would you describe the working atmosphere?
New people come and work here all the time, some people stay a long time, some stay a couple of years and set up their own workshop somewhere else. They all become part of the group and retain their own artistic integrity while I sort of run the place in a benevolent dictator fashion. There are eight of us at the moment, all of whom work part time because they have other part time jobs. It's not a big money earner but a happy life. I think the group is the best it has ever been, everyone has a different skill and it has become more than the sum of its parts.
Any new ventures?
In April we decided to take over the management of the council-run Clapham Pottery that is on the top floor of Clapham Leisure Centre. The brief was to provide affordable pottery classes so we decided to go for self-funding not-for-profit community pottery and we did it in a term, with the tutors (all people who work here) and the co-ordinator all being paid properly. I've just applied for some money to teach low income families and we got it. We now have a range of courses on offer including for carers and toddlers and after-school for kids.
What are the current trends in pottery?
There's very much an 80s retro movement going on. We are using matt, biscuity colours and glazes that we used back then and they are proving very popular. Whatever the trend, though, people in this country like blue. Customers come in intending to buy something else but they nearly always end up buying our blue.
The big product right now is compost pots. They sit on the sink and you put your compost in them before it goes in the garden, it looks nice, not like plastic, and people come in with their families and choose between our frog or hedgehog models!
What plans have you got for celebrating the 30th anniversary next year?
We are still planning that but the big installation at the front of the shop (giant pots held in place by big metal prongs to the side of the building) is part of it. We will probably be asking customers to bring in pots they bought from us over the last thirty years (which will be a bit embarrassing for me!) so we can have an exhibition of them.
North Street Potters, 24 North Street, SW4; 020 7622 0681; shop@northstreetpotters.com