Gerhard van den Heever’s Eco Egg Pots Product Review

Pottery isn’t my strong subject, but when Louisa from Adila (just & fair) suggested we take a look at these Eco Eggs we couldn’t resist. And we’re glad we didn’t. We got a set of four Eco Eggs and they look lovely.

Made by South African potter Gerhard van den Heever (pictured without his shirt on, like all good potters – I’ve seen Ghost), the Eco Egg Pots is made from clay from the local area – Paternoster on the west coast. Any clay that gets discarded during the production of the pits is dried in the sun and manually wedged till it’s ready to use again.

And that’s not all, he reuses the water needed in making his pieces by watering flowers and vegetables surrounding his shop and studio – lovely. And even lovelier, he gives away the flowers and veg – the flowers go to the local tea garden for decoration and the vegetables go to the locals on a help yourself basis. And even better, the kiln used to fire the Eco Egg Pot is fuelled by waste sawdust from a nearby furniture manufacturer. Splendid.

But what of the pots themselves? Well we received four and they range in sizes and colours – each is unique. They’re anywhere from 6-12cm high and a bit smaller in width – not quite round. They’re a brown and white mix and again it depends on which ones you get as to what colour they are.

However all of them have a neck and a hole in them. The necks are quite rough and look like they’ve been snapped off but that’s the style. I’m not sure if you’re meant to put anything in it but you wouldn’t be able to fit more than a single flower in most of them anyway.

The bases are also rougher, being unglazed. I actually like the unglazed look a bit more that the rest of the egg but that’s just me. Gerhard’s signature and (sometimes date) are inscribed on the bottom. I’ve attached a few pictures and a little video (below) to give you a sense of scale more than anything, but for some more pictures and to buy one or a set, you can go on the Adila website here. They cost £18 each (although in March 2008 they’re down on special offer at £15) and £56 for a set of four (£44 in March 2008).

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