For almost forty years (2016 is the 40th Anniversary!), Nicholas and Susan Mosse have run Nicholas Mosse Pottery in the small village of Bennettsbridge, County Kilkenny, Ireland. From the beginning their aim was to create beautiful things with Irish traditions, respecting the countryside and working with it to accomplish this aim.
Almost every aspect of their work takes the local community and environment into consideration, from employing local people to generating electricity from the passing river Nore. They were one of the first hydro-electricity ‘resurrectionists’ in the country, setting the mill’s old wheels back into motion in 1982. The pottery purposely uses low tech machinery to keep processes as sustainable as possible, and trains their staff in many aspects of pottery making.
Everyone at Nicholas Mosse Pottery – staff included – is deeply concerned with improving our waste management. Everyone works hard to ensure that the business is ecologically sound, sustainable, and ethical. Cardboard boxes are shredded to pack up pots for shipping. All the water in the workshop is recycled in a continuous loop to save resources; even our sewage water is purified in a very contemporary set of peat beds. Most clay is recycled, but any that can’t be is fired and turned into clay pavers. Our kilns produce heat which is then used for drying and in-house heating.
We are consistently looking for new ways to improve our environmental footprint, and hope this post inspires you to do the same!