During my last visit to “Twice Found,” one of my favourite modern/antique stores for browsing in the Annex, I was chatting with the owner who was extolling the virtues of Canadian pottery, and how she thinks we’re on the verge of a renewed interest in home-grown art.

Her particular interest was in Beauce, a company located in Quebec, and had many interesting pieces in her shop. One of the things I like about “Twice Found” is that they always have a wide range of pieces, I’ve previously found a vintage Arabia planter there, and I know someone picked up a set of Arabia mugs as a Christmas gift there too. However, as anybody trying to find decent Scandinavian pottery can attest: it’s hard to find, and usually when you do find it, it’s expensive and overpriced (thankfully at Twice Found they are a bit more reasonable).

That’s one of the big reasons why people are now getting into Canadian pottery: the work is just as beautiful as any other in the world (usually with a prominent Canadian twist), way more plentiful in this part of the world, and much, much cheaper!

So even though we left Twice Found with our first small German pot, I had a desire to discover and learn about Canadian pottery. I got my first chance the day after, during a routine rummage through Value Village, where I found these green mugs. They stood out amongst the usual crap in there, but when I spied the “Canada” imprint on the bottom, I thought it should at least give me a chance to do a little research.

After taking the mugs home, giving them a solid wash and removing the price tag, I found above the “CANADA” stamp a logo that looked like a crude mug drawing and a number. Apparently the style of the glaze is called “volcanic lava,” where something is applied to the glaze to make it bubble up and look like a coarse piece of rock. Very cool.

After a little search engineering, I found out that the mugs are made by a French company called Poterie Laurentienne or Laurentian Art Pottery (or just LP as the logo suggests). The company was based in St. Jerome, Quebec and was founded in 1939 by a Mr. Kominick. Apparently they changed their logo to a set of three trees later on.

From what I’ve seen online, they’ve made pottery of everything you can think of, from plates to cups to sculptures of snowmobiles and trains. Even if you can’t speak French, take a browse through this forum, where LP fans have posted up photos (and numbers) of the company’s designs.

This is the first piece of authentic Arabia pottery that I’ve ever seen in person, and I after too many fruitless eBay and Craigslist hunts, I didn’t hesitate to scoop it up. At the time, I was just on a random browse of Markham street in the Annex district of Toronto when I finally happened upon vintage/antique store Twice Found, when it was actually open for business (it’s been closed on every trip I’ve been on down there).

I’ve read about “Twice Found” on KITKA when they raved about finding their own Arabia planters there, and I can’t say enough about how I love the simple, bold character of these guys.

Arabia is a landmark brand of Finnish design, and has created a distinct line of objects for over 130 years. This design here has two parts; a bowl with a hole at the bottom, and a matching saucer that fits underneath.

Until I have the perfect spot for this particular planter, this is going with me to brighten up my cubicle space at a work, with a healthy jade plant that should survive in my dusty, dreary workspace.

If you want to see more of these Arabia wonders, check out KITKA’s photos of their pots here, and Factory 20′s extensive gallery here, which also has a few for sale (oh the perils of internet temptation!).

I will definitely be back to “Twice Found” to finally upgrade our dinnerware with a nice set of vintage/retro dishes. And yes, I’ll probably post pictures.