Fired With Imagination

Robert Gordon Australia RGA pottery
  • BelGioioso Burrata
  • Simplot Frozen Avocado
  • Atosa USA
  • Imperial Dade
  • Day & Nite
  • Texas Pete
  • DAVO Sales Tax
  • T&S Brass Eversteel Pre-Rinse Units
  • RAK Porcelain
  • McKee Foodservice
  • Inline Plastics Safe-T-Chef
  • RATIONAL USA
  • AyrKing Mixstir
  • Red Gold Sacramento
Follow TFS on Google News

In the endless search for our tribe, we find every aspect of our lives permeated with a need for belonging. Whether invisibly or overtly, this need drives us to seek out colleagues who are similarly minded and will also push us to become our best selves.

Sometimes that drive takes us across the world. I recently found my own tribe in a family of third generation potters in Melbourne, Australia, that crafts pottery that matters for people who care.

The Robert Gordon family welcomed me into their studio with open arms earlier this month. If you close your eyes and dream of the perfect pottery, as my team and I often do, this is it.

Every method of manipulating clay is available – from state-of-the-art equipment to the most basic and tactile wheels and slab rollers. Of course, generations of experience and muscle memory keep the machinery in harmonious motion.

  • Inline Plastics Safe-T-Chef
  • RAK Porcelain
  • Imperial Dade
  • T&S Brass Eversteel Pre-Rinse Units
  • AyrKing Mixstir
  • McKee Foodservice
  • BelGioioso Burrata
  • Day & Nite
  • Simplot Frozen Avocado
  • Red Gold Sacramento
  • DAVO Sales Tax
  • Atosa USA
  • RATIONAL USA
  • Texas Pete

Production experiences are further engaged by a diverse background of emphatic artists scurrying around a workshop illuminated by natural light and their infectious energy. Manufacturing exists alongside design, the workshop actively addresses repairs and developments simultaneously, and one of the inspired Gordon relatives is always in sight.

Clay dusted molds anchor rows of artist’s tables while bisqueware sits at the ready, waiting to discover its fate. Glaze barrels in developed hues are actively stimulated like chess pieces to strategize colorways, and finished goods all have a purposeful home. This is the holy grail of pottery.

When you buy a Robert Gordon plate, you’re buying into a family steeped in passion with unrivaled knowledge. A heritage of attention to detail and design with a willingness to consult the past only to recreate how we think about pottery in the future.

Robert Gordon Australia RGA pottery

We spent time with Andy Gordon, aka Robert Gordon, as he presented a hand thrown collection of reduction fired shapes.

Originally created for a celebrated local chef, we reviewed each singular piece and its viability for reproduction with a variety of rich, layered glazes.

Before professionals are welcomed inside the manufacturing facility, every visitor passes through a retail store of curated goods, limited edition pottery, and factory seconds, as well as a relaxed cafe.

Locals can peruse kitchen and housewares while dining on thoughtful food or participating in a “paint-your-own” pottery experience. It doesn’t get more individually tailored than that.

While certainly known for their stunning yet welcoming, bespoke Australian made pottery, RGA brings even more to the hospitality industry worldwide.

To continue to stay relevant to a growing number of price-drive consumers across the globe, the Gordons are also importers. It’s no surprise that overseas made pottery is given the same thoughtful, demanding consideration as the homegrown product.

The family spends extensive time in China working alongside their factory partners, and their partners are expected to deeply understand RGA’s integrity through countless visits to their factory.

I had the pleasure of meeting one of their partner representatives during my brief time in Australia and working together to determine which singular pieces of art would discover their true destiny outside of Melbourne.

Robert Gordon Australia RGA pottery

This same design process transpired when Earth was created.

Arriving this month in our Paterson, NJ warehouse, Earth is a collection of natural and black high-fired porcelain plates, bowls, and cups in irregular but stackable shapes.

This summer, we’ll be ready to ship out Earth Pink, with the same reactive glaze.

If you’re familiar with RGA already, maybe you’ve seen the Potters Collection from Steelite?

Another perfect example of product made from the Gordon family’s molds and perfected for volume overseas.

Interested in getting your hands on Earth, or one of the Australian-made collections we have in our warehouse for immediate delivery?

Head into our NYC showroom at 230 Fifth Ave where you can see the largest display of Robert Gordon Pottery in the US.

These makers are using their past to create the future, fired with imagination.

  • McKee Foodservice
  • RAK Porcelain
  • Atosa USA
  • Texas Pete
  • Imperial Dade
  • RATIONAL USA
  • Red Gold Sacramento
  • Inline Plastics Safe-T-Chef
  • BelGioioso Burrata
  • T&S Brass Eversteel Pre-Rinse Units
  • Day & Nite
  • AyrKing Mixstir
  • Simplot Frozen Avocado
  • DAVO Sales Tax
Morgan Tucker
Morgan Tucker is the Vice President, Marketing at Singer Equipment Company and a member of Singer’s senior leadership team. Attuned to foodservice trends, and guiding many of them herself, Morgan is recognized for her ability to source new products and identify and serve customers’ changing needs. Morgan can be reached at mtucker@singerequipment.com and @littlemtucker.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here