Display Ideas to Make Your Pottery Collection Shine
If you’re collector, a gatherer of pottery, art and unusual sticks (not just me, surely?) you might sometimes find yourself wondering just how to display that pottery well- and maybe how you can incorporate all those pine cones or pebbles you find in your pockets into the display…
We all want to show off our handmade pottery - it’s lovely stuff after all! But sometimes we find we’ve crammed stuff onto shelves and mantlepieces willy-nilly, thinking we’ll come back to it later “when I find the perfect spot”.
Yet handmade pottery deserves to be displayed and admired. In this post I’ve come up with three ideas for how we can display pottery so we can enjoy it, rather than feeling guilty about hiding it away and letting it gather dust.
Your ceramics displays should reflect your home, your aesthetic, and make you happy – these suggestions are jumping off points (though I suggest you put that vase down before you do any jumping!).
Display your Handmade Pottery with your Nature Treasures
I never come in from a walk in the country or by the sea with empty pockets, on one occasion I brought home a four-foot-long piece of really interesting gnarly driftwood, I wish I still had it!
Using nature finds - or treasures as we gatherers prefer to call them - alongside ceramics is hands down my favourite way of making a display! The marriage of natural elements and pottery gives your home an organic and earthy look, the nature elements enhance the beauty of the handmade pieces.
Creating an arrangement which celebrates your pots and your gatherings can wrap up many happy memories in one display.
You could display your pottery on beautiful slices of wood – I’d choose those with a ‘live edge’ - i.e. the bark is still intact - or on a large flat stone. You can use this display technique to add different heights to an existing shelf or display case. You could also add in a curly branch or pieces of driftwood for a really rustic aesthetic.
Another great theme is a coastal collection; if your favourite pottery is white and blue (with maybe a bit of yellow) you could display it with shells and beach pebbles among the pots for a seaside cottage feeling. You might want to add a seaside plant, even a bit of bladder-wrack seaweed (I’d dry that first).
You can change a display season by season using nature finds - I do this a lot. In spring and summer I use greenery and blooms in a fairly traditional ‘flowers in a vase” manner. Often my flowers may be leafy hedgerow boughs and wildflower posies, rather than florists bouquets. If you love to buy flowers, why not display them using your handmade pottery - a lovely mug is as good as a vase for this.
In autumn you could scatter pinecones among your pottery, or display bowls with a few cones and spiky coated conkers in them. Seed heads such as alliums and poppies look fantastic with pottery (be prepared to do a bit of seed gathering over the weeks if you choose seed heads, poppies tend to keep on giving!).
In deep winter you could wind evergreens round your pots, and adding candles or fairy lights to these arrangements during the darker part of the year can create a magical winter mood in your home.
An autumn windowsill display of pottery and nature treasure.
My ceramic “Ghost Pumpkins” surrounded by pine cones gathered from a local Scots Pine and poppy seed heads from the garden.
The whole display came to life once a spice scented candle nestled in the middle was lit.
Image: Fi Cooper Ceramics
Channel your Inner Curator and Create an In-House Ceramics Gallery:
You could transform an exisiting wall, dresser or cupboard into a gallery of your handmade pottery.
If you have new furniture to buy think about using boxy display units – I’m sure IKEA is your friend here - or you may even be able to pick up second-hand museum style display cases if you’ve a nose for vintage furniture. You don’t have to fill the whole case with pots (but why not?).
If you don’t have much space, then maybe think about using a tall thin bookcase case in a bright corner, and if you collect tiny ceramics you could display them in an antique (or reproduction) letterpress tray hung on the wall.
I would anticipate many happy hours of playing with the setup, mixing various pottery styles, and arranging them at different heights and angles. You’re a curator now, and this kind of display will showcase your pottery collection beautifully as well as being an eye-catching display in your home.
My home ceramics gallery:
This display is in part of a large display case/cupboard at the back of our long living room*. This gallery includes work by myself and others, some of it’s not even pottery, and that’s fine.
Even as I took this picture I started moving things about (aka faffing). [You might notice some pine cones crept in here too!].
Image: Fi Cooper Ceramics.
*which is why this picture’s a bit dark. The case has glass doors on two of the alcoves which are open for this photo, hence the odd hinges you can see. It also has quite a lot of Star Wars Lego in it (not pictured).
Display Your Pottery on Floating Shelves:
Yes, Fi, we know about shelves, we don’t live under a rock! But, I counter, what sort of shelves?
If you’re a minimalist (hand up, I am not!) floating shelves are an excellent option for displaying pottery since they create a sleek and modern look. Your pottery collection can take centre stage on a plain wall, standing on a shelf that appears to have no support, no “noise” around it. That’s the reason many art galleries display pottery in this way.
A floating shelf could just be on the wall, or if you have a fireplace it could be the mantlepiece. You can install these shelves in corners too, making a minimalist ‘niche’ for one special vase or jug.
If you have a long shelf then arrange your pottery in a visually pleasing manner, balancing different shapes, sizes, and colours. You could create a rainbow, or one bright or muted colour palette. This display method allows each piece its space, while also giving a cohesive look.
It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway - with shelving always make sure the shelf will be able to support the weight you expect it to bear!
A minimalist look using floating shelves:
You could display your pottery as it is in the top shelf in this example, one piece balanced by two others the same (or similar).
Or you might have a number of pots which are the same/similar whcih you can arrange like the jugs on the second shelf.
Image: Phuong Minh Luu on Unsplash
Your collection of handmade pottery deserves to be showcased in a way that reflects its own artistry while also reflecting your own home aesthetic and your taste.
Whether you choose floating shelves, a curated gallery style display, or nature-inspired arrangements, each method offers a distinct way to highlight the unique features of your pottery.
Why not experiment with these creative display ideas? Blur the boundaries between them, and let your handmade pottery become the centre piece of your home, admired and appreciated by everyone who sees it.