Campfire Pottery
“Our focus is really creating pieces that are going to inspire people to gather at the table and to share a meal and decorate their home with,” says Kristen Camp, co-owner of Campfire Pottery.
Kristen and Joe Camp started Campfire Pottery five years ago and handmake their pieces out of the Dana Warp Mill in Westbrook, Maine. Their often neutral-colored pottery pieces offer the perfect background for special meals and celebratory dishes. The detailed process and perfectionism of their craft shows in every finished product.
Photographed by Jennifer Bravo
Kristen throwing a one-of-a-kind piece that she collaborated with Jennifer Bravo on.
“When we're designing a new piece it is out of function. For example, our sandstone mug, which is one of our classic pieces. We start out with a block of clay and, like every piece, gets weighed out. So there's consistency in the size and there are measurements for each piece. You start out with this lump and then you have to center it on the wheel and then watch it submerse. Then working out the air bubbles, and then softening and getting it prepared to work with ,and then centering it on the wheel then pulling up the walls. There's this beautiful process of really getting the piece to be symmetrical, if that's what you're going for. Then there's the throwing process and then trim the piece after that. Once it gets to a certain dryness then it goes through the firing so it really matures the clay and hardens it so that you can glaze it. Each firing takes probably about 24 to 30 hours from start to finish,” says Kristen.
They also specialize in a Japanese-inspired pottery technique called Raku. It’s a very hot technique, even requiring a specialized suit, so the hours-long process must take place outdoors.
Photographed by Meredith Brockington
Campfire’s dinnerware makes you feel like you’re at a bed and breakfast gathering with many guests while sipping on a mimosa.
Joe and Kristen are constantly busy tending to the day-to-day of Campfire and their daughter Florence is right there with them. But when they do have time off they like to enjoy the gems of Maine.
Campfire’s mugs are a staple item as it is a must have when sipping on tea or coffee in the morning or afternoon.
“It's very much a social thing because you have to sit around and wait for the pottery to fire. And so I feel like that was kind of what made me interested. At first, it was just kind of a thing you did in college, with all your buddies. It takes a few hours to do, you know, it's like two hours, three hours or so,” said Joe.
Photographed by Corinne Kutz
Kristen and Joe met while taking a pottery class and their love continues to revolve around pottery.
The Camps were brought together through pottery when they met in a ceramics course in college. Fast forward years later and now they’re building their dream businesses together as a couple, along with their beautiful daughter, Florence. Maine’s strong sense of community and support for the local economy has helped them along the way.
“I like how everybody’s very conscious of how they're spending their money and who they're spending it with. I feel they just want a piece that tells a story. They want to support their local economy. They want to know that it's being made ethically and sustainably. And so that's just been really special and helpful to our business because people really care about the community,” says Kristen.