T & A Carter Honorary Members
Their story began in 1978, when the pottery was founded by Tony Carter and his wife, Anita, now Honorary Members of the society. The pottery, originally known as Kiln Cottage Pottery, quickly developed an enthusiastic following for its hand made ceramics.
It was soon specialising in quirky teapot designs, and Tony built an international reputation which has been maintained to this day. 2013 was a watershed year for ‘The Teapot Pottery’. Anita sadly passed away after a long battle with cancer, and Brett Hawksbee bought the business, establishing the new operating company of Carters of Suffolk. The pottery has now passed through three different owners but remains in production whilst keeping some of the original staff and now operates four miles away, at Stonham barns, Tony is no longer directly involved with it.
All Tony Carter teapots are back stamped with his name and many are numbered. Only those teapots marked with his name are original and made at the Debenham pottery.
Tony established the Tony Carter pottery school in 2015 using part of the original pottery buildings as his own studio and school. The remainder of the pottery buildings were demolished and a new house was built for Tony on the site. The pottery school is well established and students learn all aspects of pottery making under Tony's guidance in a light and airy studio. Tony continues to make in a very limited way but is no longer involved with production.
The Pottery has been producing hand made, hand painted novel and collectable teapots since the 1970's. We have in that time produced hundreds of designs, many of which are instantly recognised around the world. In collectors terms our entire production can be described as rare, since each individual item is part of a very limited production run of between 100 and 2000 teapots worldwide.