Deichmann pottery

Deichmann pottery was studio pottery produced by Kjeld and Erica Deichmann in New Brunswick, Canada from 1935 to 1963. Until 1956 their studio was located in rural Moss Glen on the Kingston Peninsula near Saint John, New Brunswick. In 1956 it was moved to Sussex, New Brunswick, where it operated until Kjeld Deichmann's death in 1963. The Deichmanns were Canada's first studio potters.

Kjeld Deichmann and Erica Matthiesen, who were both of Danish origin, met in Canada. Kjeld Deichmann was born in Copenhagen in 1900 and earned a degree in philosophy at the University of Copenhagen in 1919 before spending several years studying painting and sculpture in various European cities. He immigrated to Canada in 1928 and worked on a friend's ranch in Alberta. Erica Matthiesen, who was thirteen years younger than Deichmann, was the daughter of a Lutheran minister living in Edmonton. They were married in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1932 and moved to the Kingston Peninsula, where Kjeld had purchased a farm.

Disillusioned with farming, and having found clay on their property, they spent the year beginning in May 1933 in Europe, where Kjeld studied pottery and Erica weaving. Kjeld spent several months helping the Danish potter Axel Brüel build a kiln, keeping notes about the project. When the Deichmanns returned to Canada they set up a pottery studio on their rural property, using Kjeld's notes as the basis for construction of the wood-burning kiln. Built of fire brick imported from Scotland, it had a capacity of 30 cubic feet (0.85 cubic metres) and a firing time of 20 to 40 hours.Their first firing, in August 1935, was unsuccessful as the pottery, made from clay dug on their own property, warped in the kiln. They continued to experiment with clays and firing temperatures, and in 1937 they produced their first salable pottery. The Deichmanns were Canada's first studio potters.

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