Do you know that feeling when you work a job for so long and you start to think about the little things? For instance, if you work at a desk, you start getting really familiar with the wooden grain of your table, or if you work as a photographer you start to notice the way a button on your camera doesn’t quite bounce back right? For chef Sammy Smith, it was a fascination with the plates, bowls and mugs that inspired his obsession.
Leaving behind the chaos and stress of the kitchen, Sammy found himself enjoying the peace and quiet that pottery offered, not to mention the end product. Having made all of the ceramics for his Bondi cafe, Porch & Parlour, orders started coming in, which allowed him to spend even more at the wheel, zoning out and clearing his mind.
We hung out with Sammy at the shed and watched him do his thing as he sipped on a Monteith’s Pointers Pale Ale. “Ceramics for me has been a real meditation,” Sammy says. “When I’m at the shed, I’m totally focussed on making this bowl or this mug, and I don’t have room for much else in my head which is totally refreshing,” Sammy says.
Follow the links to see more of Sammy’s ceramics and cafe, and head here to follow Monteith’s on Instagram and stay up to date with our Journeys series.
