Cam Reactive Glaze Utensil Holder - Mocha

The Cam is a ceramic utensil holder, a straight-sided cylinder 16cm high and 12cm across, open at the top and without a lid. The glaze is reactive and mottled: a creamy oatmeal lies over a darker base, flecked and spotted with brown throughout, gathering into a dark band that breaks at the rim and into a deeper red brown that pools around the foot. The rim is slightly uneven rather than true.

At 16cm high the pot holds wooden spoons and spatulas upright, and at 12cm across it takes a full set of them. It stands on a worktop, where it keeps utensils to hand rather than shut in a drawer, and it is microwave safe and food safe. The mottling is heaviest low down, so the pot reads darker around the foot than it does at the rim.

The holder is ceramic, handmade in southern India by traditional pottery methods, with the reactive glaze applied by hand and the firing doing the rest, so no two come out alike. It is made as part of a fair-trade initiative, in a workshop that provides training and steady work for its makers with a particular focus on employing women. The Cam range also runs to mugs, dipping bowls, a lidded storage jar and a small jug in the same mocha.

How big is it?

16cm high and 12cm across.

Does it have a lid?

No. The top is open.

Is it food safe?

Yes, and it is microwave safe.

Will every one look the same?

Close, but not exactly. The reactive glaze moves in the firing, so the mottling and the depth of the brown fall differently on every piece.

How do I look after it?

Wash it after every use so it does not stain, with a mild detergent, and do not leave it standing in water. Ceramic chips, so handle it with that in mind.