Happy Christmas from belatrova
Here’s to 2015
www.peterarscott.co.uk/dev
Resilience (ελαστικότητα)
belatrova, art for living, and “a good half of the art of living is resilience” (Alain de Botton).
coffee table resilience
With austerity uppermost on European minds our thoughts turned to contemporary Greece and the hard times its citizens are going through. And because our minds often drift in the workshop, we started thinking about ancient Greeks, and not just about their pottery and sculpture, nor about them going around in togas eating grapes, but about their influence on our thinking.
Greek struggle (Laocoon & sons)
Resilience – that chief weapon of the Stoic and Cynic philosophers who stated that much emotional suffering is caused by mistakenly assuming external things are directly under our control. However, if you remember that only your own actions are truly under your control and external things are not, then you will become emotionally resilient and achieve a kind of happiness. Whatever does not kill me makes me stronger.
Resilience, that is what everyone needs as we face the year 2015.
Diogenes by Waterhouse (detail)
Which brings us to Diogenes of Sinope (c.400-c.325 BC) who denied pleasure and physical wealth for asceticism and had the nickname ‘the dog’ because of his shamelessness. He used to live in a wooden barrel with only possessions a robe to wear and a stick to walk.
It is unlikely Diogenes would ever have been a belatrova customer but we like to think that he might have approved of our use of that humble material, wood, a material that has evolved over millions of years to withstand the worst that weather can throw at it, with the possible exception of lightning. He would have spent time gazing at the beauty of our oak birdbath plinths as he undoubtedly did his own wooden home as it changed in appearance after years of exposure to all sorts of weather, because oak is extremely resilient and can be easily left outside both during strong sun and rain, and even snow and hail. See what a difference a year has already made to this belatrova “blackbird” bath:
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new birdbath
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weathered by time
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On the other hand, when it comes to our tables, though we use robust beech legs, and though we know external factors are beyond our control, we do improve the odds by making decisions that minimize any unforeseen impact. We do not use oak or beech for the tabletops but rather medium-density fibreboard (MDF), an engineered wood product made by breaking down hardwood or softwood residuals into wood fibres, combining it with wax and a resin binder, and forming panels by applying high temperature and pressure. MDF is isotropic; its properties are the same in all directions as a result of no grain, so no tendency to split. It is consistent in strength and size, flexible, it shapes well and has stable dimensions, so won’t expand or contract like wood.
All this makes it the ideal material to seal, prime, paint and varnish – and thus more resilient. Two tables left our workshop over the Open Christmas Weekends at No 9 and went to good homes:
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Kleescape coffee table
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Kleescape on rug
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Roseburgh
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Roseburgh on blue
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There are a few coffee tables still awaiting the right owner, each one a true original:
a row of coffee table tops
Come and see us in 2015. Happy New Year.
Best wishes:
Ziggy, Thelonius, Peter, Stuart, Roger, Wendy and Fleen
Here comes the Sun
That huge ball of incandescent plasma at the centre of our solar system that provides all the energy we need for life here on Earth – in the depths of winter, on cold and overcast days, we miss seeing the old sun shining down on us, stimulating our pineal gland deep in the brain, and generally making us feel good. So let’s hear it for big Helios (you could fit 1.3 million planets the size of Earth into the Sun, apparently) and think ahead to Spring and Summer in a practical way – just as everything in the solar system orbits around the Sun, so do belatrova’s ideas revolve around our clientele’s happiness.
cross section of belatrova’s brain on a Friday evening showing Pineal gland.
As the days get longer and the promise of heat starts to become a reality it is easier to imagine yourself on your balcony, or terrace, or veranda, or in your garden, glass in hand, as you soak in the rays and relax. What will enhance this experience is something that is associated with warm Mediterranean cultures, something pleasing to the eye and to the touch, something we have seen in palaces, gardens and fountains. Imagine the heat of Cordoba, then imagine stepping into the shade of its courtyards and passing your fingers over the cool surface of the tiles that adorn the inner walls. We would like you to enjoy our tiles in the same way, except that we have incorporated them into a new range of tables that can be used both indoors and out. There is no better surface on which to put that cold gin and tonic, that cup of coffee or that glass of lemon juice.
cool belatrova tiles
The advantages of tiles? Well, they are scratch, fire and stain resistant, they will not fade in the sunlight, they are waterproof and easy to clean, and, for the tabletop dancers amongst you, slip resistant. The metal frame and legs make them sturdy enough to support the weight of, say, a large goat. The tiles are grouted and held in place on marine plywood, which, of course, is waterproof.
tiled tabletop with metal frame and legs
So if you find yourself oversleeping, gaining weight, craving sweets and starchy foods, lacking in energy and irritable, it could be the beginnings of Seasonal Affective Disorder. However, remember that Spring is around the corner and that belatrova is always here to help. Many of you are gardeners and will be thinking of what needs planting and doing, and being bird lovers (having no doubt fed them throughout Winter) you will be wondering about the springtime needs of our little feathered friends: a good bath, we say. And we do make beautiful birdbaths, a wonderful combination of ceramic and oak. The picture below shows you how the oak turns after four full seasons exposed to the elements.
a year ago
one year on
Here is a picture of some snowdrops taken in belatrova’s garden, just to emphasize that Spring is nor far away. Don’t forget to visit our website www.peterarscott.co.uk/dev and if you are on Pinterest have a look at our boards: https://www.pinterest.com/belatrova/
Give us a ring if you want to drop in: +44 (0) 1531 634082
snowdrops
To a snowdrop (William Wordsworth)
LONE Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay
The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!
three legs good
belatrova’s Manhattan three legged bowl
An early morning run or walk can be a way to set oneself up for the day – you are out there with the dawn chorus, a hint of Spring in the air, plans assembling themselves in your mind for the day ahead, perhaps a squirrel just out of hibernation crosses your path, you breathe in the clean air of a new day, and then, an unfamiliar experience, the earth beneath your feet is right in front of your face, greeting you painfully on the nose. You have fallen over. Looking around to make sure nobody has witnessed your collapse, you pick yourself up and limp home with whatever dignity you can muster.
bipedalism
“Human walking is a unique activity during which the body, step by step, teeters on the edge of catastrophe.” —paleoanthropologist John Napier
Just how do we two-legged creatures manage to stay upright while in motion, or even when standing still? How can we possibly keep our balance on those flippers we call feet? Come to think of it, we are rather top heavy too, so why are we not keeling over all the time? Apparently it is all to do with voluntary and reflexive, neural, muscular, and skeletal systems collectively coordinating so as to allow us to walk without a second thought. But we shall not go into that; we simply bring it up because it leads us to an important belatrovian issue that we propose to resolve here and now.
quadrupedal thing
Within the tightly knit belatrova team, harmony always prevails. No matter what the weather outside, or the music being played, or the occasional badly made cup of coffee, we all beaver away happily and get along. Tea breaks are relaxing opportunities for discussions on topics that range from underwater basket weaving to why on earth men have nipples, from the benefits of taxation in a functioning society to the lingering suspicion that chocolate may actually not be bad for one. Important subjects for debate, we agree.
However, there is one issue that consistently divides the team into two camps: the tripedalists and the quadrupedalists. Dear belatrovians, are three legs better than four? With the spirit of conflict resolution guiding us towards a hoped-for conclusion, research was undertaken and the results are the following:
Try this at home. With your hand slightly cupped, point your thumb, index finger, and middle finger upwards and then place a flat piece of card or paper on top of them. The card will lie on all three points. Now stick a fourth finger into this experiment (perhaps somebody else’s) to add another contact point. It is now a little harder to exactly fit the paper on the plane.
Conclusion – the triangle formed by the three fingertips is stable because no matter where any of the three points of the triangle lie, they will always define a plane. So, a three-legged stool is guaranteed not to wobble, because the ends of its legs always form a plane. Thus a camera tripod; no matter which height each leg is, you will get no wobble. Even on an uneven floor.
It’s much more challenging to make a four legged table whose fourth point of contact is in the same plane as the first three points. Any point that is added to that plane will make it harder for the plane to be stable. On some uneven floors it may be quite impossible for a four legged table to be stable if it gets moved about. Five or six legs would be even worse.
a perfectly balanced four legged table by belatrova
Quadrupedalistas, graciously accepting this explanation (despite some sarcastic mutterings about making three legged tables, birdbaths and lamps), have come around to the wisdom and logic of belatrova’s decision to make three legged bowls. Place one on any surface and your olives, peanuts or cheese puffs will not roll off due to wobble. What is more, the bowls carry a certain elegance that is a touch retro – 1950s perhaps?
three legged bowl
And talking of retro, MoseyHome are a new London outlet, and they are showing belatrova’s three legged bowls. Pay them a visit if you are in the area. You can also visit our “three legged” Pinterest board.
stability on legs
As for our monopods, our beautiful birdbaths, lamps and slab pots, they will be appearing in the next few months in Country Living and Garden Illustrated.
With only a month to go, we would like to remind you that we are opening the workshop to the public on the weekend of 25th and 26th April. You are most welcome to visit, and try your hand at making a tripedal bowl. We’ll be there with five other makers for this Open Spring Weekend:
Spring Open Studios
Spring Open Studios Weekend
This weekend – Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th April 2015 – provides a great opportunity for you to come along to the belatrova workshops to see our latest products and meet with the ‘belatrova team’.
In addition, five other makers are also taking part in this Spring Open Studios weekend – Stuart Houghton Pottery, Fleen Doran, Japangarden, Wendy Houghton Ceramics, and Sunny Todd Prints. All six are located in and around the belatrova workshop at No 9 Bankside Industrial Estate, Ledbury. See our Contacts Page for a Map.
As well as seeing all the products, meeting the makers, (and the offer of tea and cakes!), you will be able to enter our ‘Win a Free Lesson’ competition.
We look forward to welcoming you!
Open Studios Success
The Bankside Open Studios Weekend on 25th and 26th April proved to be a very positive occasion for our visitors and for belatrova and five other ‘makers’ who flung open our doors to welcome all comers.
There really is no substitute for receiving feedback directly from customers and those who just came along because they were intrigued to see what it was all about. It was also great to welcome back friends who had visited us previously and who had come along to see what was new as well as to enjoy favourites from our ranges.
A number of visitors enjoyed watching various demonstrations and also rolling up their sleeves and having a go themselves – we spotted a number of budding potters!
And we enjoyed it so much that we decided to repeat it over the weekend of 11th and 12th July! So if you are able to come along then you will be most welcome – if not, just give us a ring (01531 634082) and you will be more than welcome to visit us at another time.
Art Nouveau, hospital hygiene and ceramic spotlessness
hospital corridor or ceramic glory
It was not because of excessive drinking and dining that belatrova paid a visit to a hospital only a few blocks from Gaudi’s famous Sagrada Familia cathedral, but as a result of our unquenchable thirst for cultural knowledge and beauty. It is yet another surprise on offer in the city of Barcelona that a masterpiece of Catalan Art Nouveau, built between 1902 and 1930, happens to have played a significant part in the evolution of medicine as well becoming a World Heritage Site.
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ribbed ceramic ceiling
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looking up from the patient’s trolley
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main lobby entrance
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The Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau was founded in 1401 with the merging of six hospitals. Santa Creu, the Hospital of the Holy Cross, was right in the centre of the city but by the late nineteenth century, due to the rapid growth of Barcelona’s population and rapid advances in medicine, it became too small and thanks to the bequest of the Catalan banker Pau Gil, the first stone of the new hospital, designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, was laid on 15 January 1902. In 2009 it moved to new premises built in the north-east of the precinct and the Art Nouveau site was reopened to the public, after refurbishment, in 2014.
ceramic roofs of pavilion at Sant Pau
This city within a city contains twenty seven pavilions, each one assigned a specific medical speciality and linked to the others by means of underground galleries and tunnels. Muntaner assigned an area of 145 m to each patient, including the landscaped grounds.
restful motif
What grabbed belatrova’s attention was the care taken in choosing the materials in order to create the best natural surroundings for the patients, primarily ceramics with which to clad domes, roofs, ventilation shafts, the decorative pieces and walls inside and outside the pavilions. Inside, the ceramics serve a hygienic purpose, tiles make disinfection easier, and also function as a therapeutic element. The colours of the many motifs used in the panels and mosaics combine harmoniously and convey a feeling of quiet tranquillity.
ceramic-clad tunnel link
Thanks also to the extremely high thermal stability of ceramics, which belatrovians know can be fired at a temperature of approximately 1280°C, this results in extremely solid products; and the hygienically smooth surface glaze is wear and scratch-resistant and is thus resilient to the abrasive cleaning agents that are frequently used in the sanitary facilities of public areas. Even concentrated hydrochloric acid fails to leave a mark on ceramic, but please do not try that at home.
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the garden in Sant Pau
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Sagrada Familia from Sant Pau
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clock tower and facade
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Ceramic is even resistant to extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, which is why we at belatrova use it for our birdbaths so that, combined with a resilient oak plinth, they can withstand British winters or Mediterranean summers.
resilient but beautiful
Resistant to extreme temperatures, water resistant, easy to keep clean, colourful, ceramic tiles are perfect for outdoor tables.
detail of belatrova outdoor tiled table.
To reinforce our message that belatrova products are safe, hygienic, tough and practical here is a picture of a large coiled platter with some gilt headed bream about to be prepared for belatrova’s signature dish: “Besugo al horno con patatas “. Click on the left and you will be taken to a video recipe – and you can practice your Spanish at the same time.
Hasta Luego.
bream
Advertising Works
We decided to broaden our promotional activities by advertising our beautiful and practical Bird Baths (practical at least for the birds!) and Lamps in three prestigious Magazines over the past couple of months – Gardens Illustrated and Country Living in their May editions, and Elle Decoration in the current June edition.
While online promotion through our website, blog , and social media is important, we thought we would dip our toe in the more traditional water of Print Advertising – and monitor the results carefully. Watch this space!
And – while you’re watching – don’t forget our next Open Workshop weekend taking place on Sat 11th and Sunday 12th July from 10.00am to 5.00pm where you can see our latest products and those of Stuart Houghton, Fleen Doran, Wendy Houghton, JapanGarden, and Nicky Arscott (Painter).
We look forward to welcoming you.
belatrova’s Tales of the Alhambra
Granada and the Alhambra from the Sacromonte
belatrova has often been drawn to Granada (blog August 2014) in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and specially to the Alhambra, the great sprawling hilltop fortress encompassing royal palaces from the Nasrid dynasty, as well as the fountains and orchards of the Generalife gardens.
view of the city from the fortress
It first became a palace in the 14th century under Yusuf 1, Sultan of Granada, in the years when southern Spain was in the hands of various Moorish dynasties. It is a spellbinding place, all ceramic tiles, wood and plaster – Islamic art at its peak.
cool inside, hot out
It stands on its hill overlooking the city and from the cool darkened interiors you can see Granada below, through ornate lattice windows, sweltering in the white light of day. It is an indoor coolness reinforced by the tile work along its walls, the lightness of the intricate plaster ceilings, the presence of water in the courtyards and the calm the architecture seems to bestow on its surroundings.
tree-like
Part of its magic is the way you are constantly made aware of nature, specifically of light and water, no matter where you are standing within the palace; either because you are catching glimpses of the exterior, the patios, the views, the distant trees, the reflecting pools, or because your eyes are absorbing the gentle reflections from the chest-high ceramic surround and the extraordinary organic plasterwork of the domed ceilings and the tree-like colonnades of random columns (they are not, of course, they artfully appear to be scattered).
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intricate and sublime
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delicate and voluptious
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The adjacent Generalife gardens also manage to maintain this fine balance of nature and architecture; no matter that you are outdoors, trees and hedges enclose you, lines of slender pillars appear and lead you into the welcoming shade of a domed space filled with mosaics. Birdsong and the sound of trickling water are all around you, and from certain vantage points, distant views of the Sierra Nevada, still snow capped, remind you of Washington Irving’s Tales of the Alhambra and the story of how muleteers used to bring ice down to the city in great blocks.
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distant snow-capped Sierra Nevada
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toe-dipping allure of the Generalife
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Water is an essential ingredient in this manmade landscape, an important factor in the life of a culture shaped in the desserts of North Africa and so its presence is everywhere, even flowing in the stone balustrade that leads down a flight of steps to the gardens, and which allows a descending courtier or Sultan to dip his fingers in it.
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finger-dipping stone balustrade
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ceramic and plaster
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laberynthine plasterwork
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tiled wall
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Granada itself is a wonderful blend of medieval streets winding up to the Albaicín, gothic and baroque churches, a commanding cathedral, noisy squares filled with cafes and restaurants, fabulous ice cream parlours, incredibly helpful taxi drivers, shops brimming with blue and white ceramics, and one bar in particular that serves ice cold beer in freezing earthenware vessels (an idea germinating in belatrova’s collective mind – could this be applied to a Dry Martini?).
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ice cold in Granada
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magnolia
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belatrova resting
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The visit coincided with Granada’s Corpus Christi festival – a five day period of celebrations and religious processions. In the Plaza Bib Rambla families roamed around the square sipping drinks and watching a puppet show with their children, their young daughters dressed head to toe in their flamenco outfits.
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the courtyard of the lions
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passion flower in the Albaicín
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It was an inspirational visit, and made us want to get back to our ceramics, our birdbaths, but mostly to our tiled tables which we will be launching as part of the Bankside Studios Summer Open Weekend on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th July. Please pay us a visit, and you will also get to see the work of six other makers. Hasta la vista.
The Ashes, Wimbledon – and our Open Workshop Weekend!
If the spectacle of the Ashes is not for you, nor the thrills from Centre Court of Federer versus Djokovic and you are looking for something else to do this weekend, then you will be very welcome at our Open Workshop on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th July from 10.00am to 5.00pm!
We can’t promise you a Joe Root cover drive or Federer cross-court backhand, but you never know, we may have something else that catches your eye from our collection or from those of our neighbouring makers at Bankside Studios – including Stuart Houghton, Fleen Doran, Wendy Houghton, JapanGarden, Dave Preston, and Nicky Arscott (Painter).
…and who wants cricket or tennis if you can have….noughts and crosses!