Playful pigs, grinning cats, cockerels parading the perimeter of generously proportioned loving cups, and honey pots dotted with bees: Wemyss Ware (pronounced weems) is distinctive and eye-catchingly easy to enjoy. It isn't hard to understand why the Queen Mother, King Charles and Elton John are among many illustrious collectors who have fallen for its charms.
Named after an imposing castle perched on sea cliffs overlooking the Firth of Forth, and the family who lived there, the story of what has been dubbed Scotland's most famous pottery begins, improbably, in Europe in 1882. Robert Heron, the innovative owner of a pottery in Kirkaldy, Fife, set off on his travels, scouting for new talent to upgradeprobably in Germany that Heron met Karel Nekola, a talented young decorator from Czechoslovakia, and offered him employment. Nekola wasn't the only European craftsman Heron recruited, but he was the only one who enjoyed life in Scotland enough to stay on. It wasn't just the work, but the setting, that drew him. A keen walker, Nekola went on long rambles in the surrounding countryside, and the flora and fauna he observed were used to adorn the ambitious decorative wares he designed and produced under the name of Wemyss Ware.
