Tash Aldrich-Blake

Tash has always been interested in the crafts and living patterns handed down through the ages. In this fast paced consumable world, she finds that making by hand and likewise hand sourcing materials, is an antidote to the life that most of us live now - turning mud back into rock seems to bring this full circle.

This particular batch for Lars & Margo, was collected at the beginning of the summer on a bright clear evening when the sea was milky blue and everything soft and silent… the clay however, having other ideas, shows itself in its persistent form - rugged and hardwearing.

Formed in granite outcrops millions of years ago before washing down over moorland hills to the sea, this special coastal clay can only be hand foraged at Talland Bay on a full or new moon, when the water recedes just enough to reveal a small outcrop of this magical material. Emerging from the sand as a blend of green and purple tones Tash has learned to ignore the green; which holds a pungent stench of old sulphur. As for the purple, once dried, pounded, separated and rehydrated, it throws beautifully, keeping the character of the granite, with its rich moorland lichens and weathering and salt spray. 

Tash Aldrich-Blake

Living and working in her remote studio idyl on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, we were drawn to the beauty of Tash’s work - which for us not only brought our personal love of the coast to the roastery, but each tumbler or cup’s rough textures and complex pigments encapsulate the love Peter and I have of our granite moorland - an area where we were blessed to raise our three children, picnicked with friends and family, fetched runaway footballs, hunted for the cuckoo and laughed at the state of our once yellow labrador following a wallow in the moorland bogs!

It’s been a delight to welcome Tash as our third Lars & Margo Maker.

Please return to Makers for Lars & Margo to view Tash’s stock.

For further info or commissions please contact Tash via @natashaaldrichblake