The Pottery Today

Myles Happ has been inspired to make pottery since watching his extended family working together as a child – creating simple and functional pieces in very traditional glazes.

“Now I have my own children, I marvel at how much joy each receives fashioning clay into shapes and objects of art, all in totally different ways!”

Myles believes pottery needs to be useful as well as beautiful. With this in mind, he also maintains that it is one of the few very affordable art forms. Jugs and utensil holders that are found in the pottery are reflective of this. Sometimes if you are in at the right time, it is possible to find “flights of jugs”.

One of Myles’s great passions is food, and many of his pots are responses to the kitchen and dining table. He LOVES having a night off so he can make fresh pasta with fresh eggs from their chickens and the children especially enjoy getting their hands dirty with flour !.

Recently Myles and wife Jacquie, have purchased Wildwood Pottery justoutside Dunsborough.  The gallery will not be open there for sometime and Myles is looking forward to making pots both at home and at Happs.  Some of the new shapes that are emerging have engaged his imagination and he is extremely excited about the possibilities.

With these new shapes there will be some new glazes though Myles is keen to let the clay speak for itself. In a sense, the beauty continues to be simple shapes with little decoration to speak of.

About The Pottery

Happs Pottery features four potters, including Myles. Kim Potter who has been working at Happs for nearly twenty years. Kim is a thrower with dedication and persistence, his style is for perfection and very traditional in domestic ware.

David Thomson joined the pottery in 2002 and has been a lively addition! His pots are functional sculptures and include a playful olive oil pourer that we have nicknamed Leunig because of it’s abstract and accidental likeness to the cartoonist's characters.

Alison Brown joined the blokes in late 2005 and brings a wealth of technical knowledge having been in the industry for over 30 years. We enjoy a much cleaner workplace as well! Alison’s touch is seen with a smattering of thrown pots and hand built pots. Her experimenting with the glazes we have has made the range very exciting to peruse.

Myles is the one with the big laugh left, David is the one with the cup of tea making square pots middle, and Kim has little Sport bouncing around his legs (but missed the photo shoot !!). Alison who has a rich history in making pots also does our amazing floral arrangement is on the right.

At Happs Pottery we make all our own glazes. Sometimes it takes a long time for the colour to work consistently to our satisfaction. The Bunker Bay Green glaze we had been working on for nearly two years.  The final product has been well worth the effort, and watching the pottery move off the shelves so quickly is testimony to that!

All the pottery is stoneware temperature, which essentially means it can be used in the oven, in the microwave and dishwasher. It is definitely not to be used on the stove top though.  We don’t have the correct clay for that at this point!

The water fountains are very popular, and we can now glaze them in the colours that we have so your collection can extend further than the kitchen table. Prices range from $390 to $490 generally, more for custom orders that require larger sections.  The price includes the pump so all you have to do is put the three sections together (designed as such for assembly and cleaning), add two & a half buckets of water and turn on the switch! So easy.

Large vases, dinner sets, dipping bowls, wine coolers, presentation pieces, coasters and so much more, make a visit to the pottery a real delight. And take the chance to taste some dukkah and olive oil produced locally and enjoy the scent of some of the Margaret River Candles.

There’s always something happening, so take the time to visit and you will sure to find something to take home, either for yourself, or a gift for an upcoming wedding or birthday.