Pat’s plates a hit at Congress

DEDICATED DESIGNERS

By Kevin McGrother

August 18 2009

When The Hay Makers co-operative was asked to produce the commemorative plates awarded at this year’s Co-operative Excellence awards at Congress, they were more than happy to oblige.

“We’ve been going for nearly 22 years now,” says potter and ceramics artist Pat Birks. “And we’ve never done any work for other co-ops so it was very nice to be asked.”

Pat is a founder member of the co-op, based in Hay-on-Wye, and without giving her age away, she was already comfortably into her 50s when the co-operative began.

Pottery has been her life since the age of 13 when she became a young pupil at Harrow Art College. “You could do that in those days,” she says, referring to her age, “and I got a much better education there than I would have had I stayed at my other school.

“I, of course, had high-faluting ideas of being a sculptor but we did everything from anatomy to architecture and it equipped me very well for everything that was to follow.”

What followed, when she left Harrow at 19, was more than 30 years of working for various potteries around England and Wales and bringing up children.

Pat then started to specialise in majolica ware, a distinctive style of pottery developed by craftsmen of the Near East and Europe who were attempting to copy the bright colours on white porcelain from China. “It arrived in Europe via Majorca, hence the name,” says Pat. “It is very time consuming to produce, but I have developed my own direction using the original qualities of the majolica style, also incorporating my love of drawing and design.”

Having just started to work on her own, the decision in the late 1980s to form the co-operative came about quite naturally she says. “There was a group of us — all different artists who used to meet and we decided to get together to stage exhibitions. Finding venues always proved very difficult so we decided it would be simpler to have a permanent space to display and sell our work. It was a way to help each other and to share the costs and responsibilities.”

Membership of the co-operative has changed over the years — Pat is one of only two remaining founder members — and currently there are nine members.

Each helps out at the St John’s Place shop and a co-operative meeting is held every month where “any discontent is thrashed out” although Pat admits that in over 20 years she cannot think of any significant fall out between members.

A percentage of sales goes to the co-operative to cover running costs. Different members work in a variety mediums — including textiles, wood, stone and pottery — to create a lively, vibrant mix of goods. Visiting exhibitions are also staged four times a year to add further variety.

Like all businesses based in Hay-on-Wye, the Hay Makers receives an annual boost to visitor numbers and sales every May when the literary and arts festival takes place. The festival attracts an eclectic crowd, with politicians and church leaders mixing with comedians and film stars.

Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow is one festival goer who always pays a visit to The Hay Makers where he “boosts his wardrobe” with a selection of colourful ties produced by co-op member Sue Forrest.

Sue says of her ties: “People either love them or hate them. Those who love them buy them with little hesitation because they are originals. We try and cater for all sorts of personalities no matter what their age.”

Pat also has her own regular festival customers — though none as high profile as Mr Snow. “There’s a lady from Malta who comes and buys something off me every year,” she says, “I’ve no idea where she puts it all.”

One customer that Pat is keen to track down is a lady who visited the shop in 1993. “She came in and bought quite a large tiled panel. She paid for it and then disappeared on a world cruise promising to pick it up on her return. That was 16 years ago now,” says Pat, still not daring to sell the panel.

And the satisfaction of knowing that her art work is on display in people’s homes — whether in Malta or closer to home — still matters to Pat: “You sometimes go past a house and notice your work through the window, and that’s a very nice feeling” she says.

The relaxed but bespoke and high-quality style of The Hay Makers is well suited to its location — a town unlike any other. After 22 years of trading Pat admits “we must be doing something right,” Hopefully it won’t be another 22 years before its next co-operative commission.

• Visit www.haymakers.co.uk for further information.

Category: Wider Co-op Movement