Stangl

Donna Bowls

Last night for dinner I made cod with a rice/veggie melange side dish. Normally The Amazing Bob and I eat out of bowls of my own creation but, since the food was hot, sehr heiß and molto caldo too, I served it on plates in order to increase the cooling surface.

Why, why, warum do I bring this up?

Well, I may have mentioned that mia madre was into Terra Cotta—that being her clay body of choice. No, she wasn’t a potter—she was a grand appreciator though. Way back when we were living in Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey and Hope and Jim Buechler were my folks’ BFF we all, both families, voyaged to Flemington, New Jersey and the Stangl Pottery factory and store.

I remember racing around the shop, playing catch me if you can around the base of the giant, no longer used kiln chimney with my older sister and the Buechler kids. I recall stopping short to appreciate, to stand in awe of all the cool pots too.

Chuck and Lu bought a lovely earthy crunchy set as did Vater und Mutter Buechler.

Stangl Plates

This was the ‘good china’ —AKA the ‘good terra cotta,’ brought out on holidays and when we had guests. I LOVED those dishes somethin’ fierce.

Light years and eons later, when TAB and I eventually, finally went to Cambridge City Hall and made our elicit, mad, wild love affair all legal and shit, my mother sent me all that remained of the Maderer Stangl Collection.

Best damned present EVER!

I've just read that, while Stangl Pottery closed in 2008, the building is reopening as 'Artisan Shops'.

'The sprawling, irregularly shaped building contains 19,000 square feet of usable space, which would become the Stangl Factory Artisan Village and Shops. The brochure invites artists and artisans to “ply your trade” and “sell your wares” in artisan workshops and gallery space. Its “factory chic décor” includes brick walls, iron trusses and the kilns.'

'Their plan also has an entertainment element. According to the brochure, “Activities in the Lounge will include… weekly music and … such amusements as magicians, caricaturists, juggling, puppeteers and storytelling. Stangl Factory will be a venue for poetry or prose readings and street art — sketching and painting, etc.”;

This sounds fabulous. I feel a New Jersey Road Trip brewing in my bones.