our history

In October 1993 Pamela Lim opened The Garden Party shop in Ponsonby, Auckland, where she hand-decorated plates and fired them in a kiln in the storeroom out the back.

The colourful majolica designs were very popular and so a factory was set up next door, where we made tableware with a plate making machine, purchased from Morris and James in Matakana.

We had 4 big kilns running hot, and many staff designing and decorating plates, bowls, cups, jugs, platters and tiles.  The Kiwiana inspired dinner sets were hugely popular.

Over time fashions have changed and so have ceramics. We moved into sushi plates and then developed a range of brilliant crackle glazes to go with them. We exported ceramics to the UK, Hong Kong and Australia and as cheap imports from Asia began to dominate the tableware industry, we turned back to the clay and started hand making tiles and wall plaques.

Since then we’ve developed many techniques and glazes. Our designs often embrace Kiwiana but we also like to work with symbols that are universal.

In 2009 the Factory was moved to Waiheke Island, where our collaborative team continue to design and develop new products.

Today, we hand make ranges of Milk Bottle Vases, Art tiles, Shapes, Birds, Hearts and Pebbles and distribute these across many and varied stores all over New Zealand and across the world.  See the stockists page to view a complete list of our retailers.

We also sell seconds and end-of-lines direct to the public through our Factory Shop.