Blue Mountain Pottery

DefunctDecember 31, 2004 (2004-12-31)Headquarters, Product sold across Canada, with exports to the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New ZealandProductsVarious pottery types, with distinctive multi-coloured glazes

Blue Mountain Pottery was a Canadian pottery company located in Collingwood, Ontario, and named for the nearby Blue Mountains. It produced pottery with distinctive mixtures of glazes. The most common glaze pattern was a combination of a blue-green glaze and a dark grey or black glaze, although it also produced pottery in other glaze combinations. Founded in 1953, the company’s pottery became very popular in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s, and was exported to markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The company closed at the end of 2004, but its products continue to be popular amongst private collectors. The Royal Ontario Museum and the George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art both have collections of Blue Mountain pottery.

The company was founded in 1953 by an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, Jozo Weider. Two other immigrants from Czechoslovakia, Dennis Tupy and Mirek Hambalek, also played key roles in the early days of the company.^[1]

Weider was the owner of the Blue Mountain ski hill in Collingwood, operating in the nearby Blue Mountains. He wanted to provide a line of items for the ski hill's gift store. Tupy, who worked at the ski hill, had European training in ceramics. One day, when a new ski run was being ploughed, he stepped into some heavy clay that had been turned up. Scraping it off his boot, he commented that it resembled the clays he had worked with in Czechoslovakia.^[2] Hearing the comment, Weider began to work with Tupy on a pottery project, experimenting with local clays from the Georgian Bay area.^[1][2][3][4]

Weider then began Blue Mountain Pottery Ltd. as an offshoot of the ski hill. Tupy worked at the moulds for the products, while Hambalek, who had training in glazing techniques, became the chief glazer for the pottery. They built their own kilns for their product. As the pottery took off, it provided an income stream that kept the Blue Mountain ski hill afloat during the summers. The pottery was originally located in a building on the ski hill, but then expanded to a location in Craigleith, and finally to a factory in Collingwood.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Blue Mountain Pottery items featured a unique, trademarked glazing process known as "reflowing decorating", or "flowing drip glaze". Two different liquid glazes, one light and one dark in colour, were applied. During the firing process the glazes would run, creating streaking patterns unique to each piece.^[3][5][6]

The company developed a particular combination of glazes, with light colours mixed with dark. The most iconic was a blue-green glaze, with an additional dark grey or black glaze. These colours were said to have been inspired by the evergreen trees which grew on the Blue Mountains. However, they also experimented with many other glaze combinations, such as harvest gold, cobalt blue, mocha, pewter, red, brown, and white.^[1][3][5][6]

Production of the red clay items with the distinctive glazing started in 1953–1954. The company went on to produce various types of pottery, from animal figurines to jugs, pots, and vases. One specialty item was a mug commemorating the Canadian Centennial in 1967. All of their products had the "BMP Canada" logo on the underside.^[1][3][7]

The company initially sold its products in Ontario, but expanded, first across Canada, and then internationally. Blue Mountain pottery was very popular in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s, often as wedding gifts. The company also expanded into the export trade, with sales to the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean. At one point, sixty per cent of the company's sales were for export, with two-thirds of those sales being to the United States.^[1][5][6][7]

Tupy worked with the company until 1960. Dominic Stanzione became the studio potter, who helped expand the company and the popularity of its wares in the 1960s, particularly with large pieces made on a potter's wheel. Starting in 1982, David Bennett was the master mould maker and designer with the company.^[3][4][6]

Weider sold the company in 1968, to allow him to focus on developing the Blue Mountain ski resort. Blue Mountain Pottery was acquired by International Silver Company of Canada. From 1971 onwards, the lead manager was Robert Blair. In 1987, when International Silver went into receivership, Blair bought the Blue Mountain assets, including the moulds, and maintained operations.^[3][5][6]

The company finally closed on December 31, 2004, unable to compete with cheap imports. At its peak, it had been one of Canada's largest potteries.^[3][5][6]

The Royal Ontario Museum has a large collection of Blue Mountain pottery, including both decorative and functional pieces, and one of the Centennial mugs. Many of the pieces are in the classic blue-green glaze, but there are also pieces in other glazes, showing the range of experimentation in the pottery studio. The collection includes donations made by members of the Blue Mountain Pottery Collectors Club in 2003, and also donations from Robert Blair, the last president of Blue Mountain Pottery, in 2005.^[1][3][8][9]

The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art in Toronto also has a collection of Blue Mountain pottery.^[3]

Canada Post released a commemorative stamp for the Blue Mountain Pottery.^[3]

The company's pottery is still widely collected, in Canada and worldwide, resulting in the formation of the Blue Mountain Pottery Collectors Club, made up of private collectors. The price of Blue Mountain pieces has steadily risen, especially in Britain. One particular set was a Noah's Ark, thirteen figurines on wooden stands, plus the Ark itself. One complete set sold for $7,000, prior to 2014.^[3][10]

In July 2022, the Craigleith Heritage Depot, the Blue Mountains Public Library, and the Blue Mountain Pottery Collectors Club put on a weekend retrospective of the Blue Mountain Pottery, at the Beaver Valley Community Centre in Thornbury, Ontario. The retrospective included a sales floor, exhibits of pottery from local museums, and displays about the history of pottery. Pottery experts, former employees of Blue Mountain Pottery, and Conrad Biernacki, author of a upcoming book on Blue Mountain Pottery, all attended. There was also the premiere of a documentary, entitled "Blue Clay".^[11][12][13] The documentary was shown again two years later at a local film fest.^[14]

• Blue Mountain Pottery Archived May 7, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
• Commemorative video: "Blue Clay"