Pottery workshop Groenesteeg 65

At one of the most beautiful locations of Leiden you will find the small scale pottery and little craft shop of Gemma Boetekees. Gemma works in the tradition of functional pottery: hand made products designed to be simple, easy to handle for everyday use. She works with traditionals forms in a contemparary style.

Why do you always pick the same mug for your coffee and tea? Why is that specific mug your favorite?

That has to do with how well the design fits your hand, how good the rim of the mug allows you to drink and how practical and beautiful it is. This is what fascinates me as a potter, and what makes me want to turn new pots, mugs, bowls, etc. over and over again, and design new glazes for them.
The English potter Seth Cardew tought me at several workshops how form and function are closely related: the key to your favorite mug! That is what I consider as the old craft of the potter, and what I pursue.

Gemma designs her own glazes, makes and sells several styles of traditional ware and accepts individual orders. In 2001 she finalised her education as a potter at SBB in Gouda, The Netherlands, where she also finilised the post-courses.

The pottery shop can be found in an old Leids house, built in 1670, in the Groenesteeg, just outside the town centre but within the old town, bordered by the canals. The Groenesteeg is a historical street in Leiden, where 'Goeie Mie', the Dutch poison-witch, used to live around the corner and where you still can find the small, ecologically sustained graveyard, where the mother of Vincent van Gogh is buried, at the end of the street cornered by the canals.

The pottery is open on Friday and Saturday afternoons, from 1 to 5 PM.