All About Perspective.

Many of you will be aware that at the end of last year we closed our kitchen and now only serve a range of beverages and homemade sweet treats. We made this decision because our core business is bringing you beautiful, unique handmade pottery. However,  an extremely disproportionate percentage of our time and energy went into our tiny food offerings. Cooking, cleaning, serving & shopping for such a small scale operation was not financially viable and kept us from our main goals.

People’s reactions to this news have been very interesting. We heard the whole spectrum of responses: positive, negative, upset, disappointed-but-understanding, disappointed-and-baffled, bewildered and so forth. Here are a few of the various responses;

• “I had wondered how you juggled everything” (precariously!)
  
• “I’m disappointed but I had wondered how you made it worthwhile.”
  
• “I understand, that makes a lot of sense”
  
• Our scones were even given an Instagram tag of their own “#bringbackscones”
  
• “But your scones are the best”
  
• “Why would you get rid of food!?”
  
• This last one needs a some context. I was in the shop on my own, serving a customer who was choosing a lovely wedding present, and just finishing up that sale. A couple walked in and I said I could be with them in a minute or two. It turned out that they were after some lunch. I explained that we had closed our kitchen at the end of last year, and gave a brief explanation why. The response was “but you you don’t have a line of people buying pottery right now, why can’t you get us something?” (if only everything was that easy!)
  

This disparate range of responses made me reflect on how and why something so innocuous could have produced such a breadth of diametrically opposed views. Mum and I discussed these various perspectives at some length. We found it an interesting example of the way we all perceive the world through the lens of our own situation, needs and experience. No matter how unbiased we think we are, we are unlikely to ever be entirely objective in how we view our surroundings. I guess this is just part of being human. Everything would be a bit boring wouldn’t it if we all liked that same things, had the same priorities, the same views and had the same outlook on life.

As hard as it is to admit, maybe our beautiful Polish Pottery and lovely Nicholas Mosse Pottery isn’t as objectively wonderful as we think? Although if you are reading this blog, I think you might agree with us - that it truly is fantastic!