Over the years, many people worked at the Morris & James pottery. If you, or someone in your family, worked at the pottery, tell us your story and we will add it here.
Share your storyMorris & James began with Anthony (Ant) Morris. Trained under Robin Welch in England, he came home in 1977 and, with his wife Sue James, bought land at Matakana for its clay. From a wood-fired kiln large enough to drive a tractor into, he built the pottery that became a Matakana institution.
The pottery changed hands in 2009, when a group of existing staff, led by General Manager Kieran Rice, bought the business. They ran it until it closed in 2025.
His book, Mud and Colour Man: The Morris & James Story, is his own detailed account of the pottery’s early decades.
A few of the people who made the pottery, and what they are doing now. More to come.
Satya and the team at Café Nectar remain on site at 48 Tongue Farm Road, Matakana, serving delicious coffee and food, as well as local catering. There are plenty of vegan and gluten-free options too.
Café Nectar on Facebook
Yoko was a hand decorator at Morris & James from 2002, having moved to Snells Beach. Before that she lived in Kyoto, Japan, where she worked as a clothing designer. She now runs her own pottery, Celsius Ceramics, with many designs adapted from Morris & James.
Celsius Ceramics
Jacs was with Morris & James for over 20 years, working mainly on developing new glaze designs. She developed a distinctive style of applying layers of slip glazes. Jacs now owns and runs her own art gallery, so make sure you pop by. More info to come.
Kieran was General Manager of the pottery from 2009 right through to its closure in 2025, and Deb, his partner, looked after sales, helping many of you with phone and email orders over the years. Now enjoying a well-deserved retirement, they remain involved, helping to keep this website going as a reference for many years to come.
If you ever visited our showroom, you will probably remember Rowan’s friendly face. As Showroom Manager, she also worked with the team on new designs and showroom displays. Rowan is still local, and you might bump into her at the Sculptureum.
Sculptureum
After 10 years at the pottery, Amanda continues to moderate the Morris & James social media pages and keeps communication lines open. She also looks after the Mail Club and future Morris & James community initiatives.
Mail ClubThe staff of Morris & James always knew they were part of something unique: a tranquil, special place to turn up to every day. Looking back, it means even more. Through the good times and the hardest ones, nobody went through it alone. The pottery was a place of work, but it was the people who made it home.
