Treasures found in pottery
Dale Lambert's pottery wares have been bought by private collectors over the world and have featured in several art galleries.
A dream saved Muldersdrift’s own pottery queen from a career as a computer geek and digital viruses.
Inside the Warehouse Coffee Shop next to the N14 highway is Dale Lambert’s studio. She has won several prizes with her pottery and explains that she can’t imagine doing anything else but shaping and creating different types of ceramics.
“I am doing this for over 20 years and I don’t regret it.”
Her career in pottery started when she was studying programming fresh out of school.
“One night I dreamt about pottery. I dragged my mother to a pottery class and after the first class I was hooked.”
She managed to find clay and a potter’s wheel for sale in the classifieds section of a newspaper.
“I was enjoying myself so much that I decided to abandon my studies, pay my father the money back and make this my new career.”
After studying pottery, working as an apprentice and many years as a potter she opened her first studio in Ruimsig before re-opening it where it is today inside her parents’ coffee shop.
“The area is lovely and also because we as a family are around each other.”
Her wares, of which are on sale in the coffee shop, have been bought by private collectors from all over the world and have featured in art galleries in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town, as well as in the United Kingdom.
Her most recent works were exhibited at Museum Africa in Johannesburg last month as part of the Gauteng Regional Exhibition competition that was hosted by Ceramics South Africa.
She achieved second place with her intense blue stoneware bowls in the Glaze Colour category and will be taking part in the national bi-annual competition later this year in Cape Town.
Lambert enjoys working with different types of materials for pottery and says she love working with porcelain most.
She now also creates ceramic lamp shades and hopes this will be successful.
Lambert also teaches pottery on Tuesday evenings and Thursday mornings.
“I enjoy teaching and getting people to appreciate handmade ceramics. People need to realise when they buy ceramics they are buying treasures.”
For more information on the classes contact Lambert on 082 441 3039.
