Of course we had to find the studios of Wayne Ngan, Heinz Laffin and Gerhard Kozel. I think we first visited Wayne and Heinz on a camping trip to Hornby Island in the early seventies.

There are two potteries on Ostby Road, north of the Co-op. First, on the right, we found the studio shared by Heinz Laffin, Gerhard Kozel and Mette Wullum. Just as I remembered, the durable stoneware pots were all arranged on shelves outside, perfectly safe in all weather.

Browsing through the selection of every kind of dinnerware and serving dish I picked out a smallish bowl which used temmoku, celadon, a dip of rutile blue and some chrome green dots.

When we moved inside to see the working space we met Mette Wullum who is Gerhard’s partner and who has been making pots with him and Heinz for a number of years. Her pots were quite distinctive, with delicate patterns on celadon. She tells me that my chosen pot was made by Gerhard. As we discussed pottery and possible classes to take, I mentioned the ones at North Island college. Again the demise of Capilano’s pottery department came up and it turns out that long-time Ceramics instructor there, Sam Kwan and his partner Valerie have stayed twice this summer. You won’t keep Sam away from pottery!

Mette said that Heinz wasn’t making pots today because he’s run out of clay. Please may I still be able to make pots at his age.

At the end of Ostby Road is Wayne Ngan’s well-appointed showroom, in a lovely spot overlooking the same north shoreline as Renee and Pietro’s property some lots over to the left.

As Gailan told us the day before, there are lots of pots, and sculptures and bold abstract paintings by Wayne on display.

We didn’t find our way in to see his workshop or kilns as we had in the past. He heard us in the open gallery and came out to encourage us to look around.

I took lots of photos so I’ll just post these below for you to get an idea of why you should pop in to see the work of BC’s most well-known potter.

We didn’t buy anything today, having found exactly the piece we were looking for at the Gallery of BC Ceramics earlier this year.

We spent much of the rest of the afternoon walking around beautiful Helliwell Park, with its massive Arbutus trees and ocean views. After another spell of time reading our books on Tribune Bay beach and then at Whaling Station Bay we finished our short Hornby Island holiday with excellent fish and chips and beer back at the pub. Sadly, after so many weeks of record hot weather in the Lower Mainland, we did not get the ocean swim we’d hoped for on Hornby.

Tomorrow I’ll post photos of an amusing solution to ugly water tanks..