Welcome to Bridgetown Sparrow Ceramics
Bridgetown Sparrow Ceramics is a woman owned hand thrown pottery business based in Portland, Oregon. Aby has dedicated her life to(and the last 19 years) to honing her craft and bringing you the most aesthetically beautiful, functional, and unique pottery possible.
When all else is chaos, the only way out is through. One of the best ways to get through is presence. Being aware, noticing, being in one's body. The dog that is SO HAPPY you are home. The driver that lets you in when you signal. The kids laughing while walking home from school. Crows flying home to nest. Helping the friend that was in a bind. That first perfect cup of coffee in the morning. These are the moments that cut through the chaos.
And for me that is the subtle magic of pottery. Human bodies need so many things to get through a day. Food and drink are literal requirements. This can become so commonplace that it could be easy to go through the motions completely unaware. However, having your morning cup of coffee in that beautiful and comfortable handmade mug is different. The mug that makes you think of the time and place you got it, perhaps the friends you were with. It takes that solitary cup of coffee, puts a smile on your face, and in that moment you are connected to all of those other people and moments.
I see pottery as the confluence between the earth and the body.
Pottery can be a vehicle for connection. A way to slow down, a way to notice and appreciate the mundane everyday moments. For me that is what makes life more bearable. Noticing and appreciating the small miracles that happen around us every day. Whether that is the curve of the handle that fits just so, the beautiful dish that perfectly accentuates your delicious salad, or that sake set that comes out to share with a friend or loved one. Even at times like this, the world is still full of beauty if we can awaken to it. And I believe in and have committed nineteen years of my life to offering pottery into people's lives as a vehicle and proponent for this beauty.
My work is hand thrown porcelain that is burnished by hand. Meaning that the surface is extremely smooth to the touch. I am passionate about clay, and I work to have my pieces showcase the clay that I am using.
“I’ve never seen pottery that looks like this!”
“This aesthetic is so entirely you ~ I’ve never seen work that looks like this before. Simply magical.”
Like no other
While Aby’s work has a cohesive aesthetic, every design is individually crafted for that piece making it a unique piece of art.
Aby’s one-of-a-kind aesthetic came about over 19 years of experimentation. Having been fortunate to travel the world doing artist residencies and also moving around a lot it came to make less and less sense to use beautiful local clay all over the world and then cover it with glaze.
That is where Aby’s aesthetic was born. She started to expose more and more of the clay body to accentuate the medium that she is working with. After 19 years working in ceramics her knowledge and respect of the clay body goes deep. Her design work is a way of acknowledging and respecting this special medium.
