History

On May 1st 1978, a heavily pregnant Naine Woodrow unpacked the last pieces of a 1000 tableware order from the kiln that had been built in a back room of her house and delivered it by cab to Saga a Japanese restaurant in London’s West End. The order paid for a new kiln and the North Street Potters was born, 12 days before her daughter!

Naine had come to London after a three-year apprenticeship in Kasama, Japan and a brief tenure as a production thrower in Dorset. Together with a business partner, Mary Neville, located through an ad in Spare Rib magazine, she began selling tableware to local people in Clapham from the front room of her house in North Street.

The business expanded quickly with further orders from other Japanese restaurants and within a year the two women moved the business across the road to its present address at 24 North Street. They opened a shop and set out to establish what has become, a successful business, an evolving craft collective, a launch pad for many trainee potters and a focal point for the local community.

The name, North Street Potters, was chosen to identify the location and to acknowledge the importance of the skills of the individual crafts people and their commitment to shared working as a collective of sole traders.

Over the years many people have joined the collective, attracted by the opportunity to work in a creative environment where ideas are shared and individuality prized. Until they get established, most members have other jobs, working in the pottery a few days and elsewhere for the rest of the week. Through such contacts and a growing word-of-mouth reputation new members join to improve their skills, to gain experience in business or to build an income for launching their own enterprise. Some work alongside the professional potters developing their skills for personal pleasure while continuing their primary careers.