I have always been secretly fascinated with Ireland and the translation of original place names, as Gaelige to the bizarre, meaningless interpretations of these, as Bearla.

Colm Rice was born and raised in Dublin and he is a very successful potter. He has been living in Ringsend for many years now, Pidgeon House Road to be precise, where he purchased a lovely house overlooking the water.
However, this was not the only attraction to Pidgeon House Road for Colm. He remembers well the first time he set eyes on his property he knew this was meant to be, since placed proudly on the corner of his house is as Gaelige ‘Bothar Tig Mic Coluim’!

Fate. The road of Colm’s house! Or could this be interpretated as an over-inflated ego? And, if so, perhaps this is what is required to become as successful as Colm has in the world of pottery. Self belief, confidence, passion and fate!

Colm trades under the name of Colm De Rís, Irish Pottery. His hand-thrown decorative pots can be found in Kilkenny Design, Arnotts, Meadows & Byrne and in well-known gift shops throughout Ireland. He has also stretched via the world-wide web into the American market.

However, his success has not come without its setbacks. Sadly, fate and destiny were not always kind to Colm. But one must accept these pitfalls and as the saying goes ‘the tree that bends through all the storms is the tree that grows tallest to reach the sun’.

An Sceal Colm.
Colm was born in 1969 and was raised in the Dublin 6 area. His family were in the hotel business and his initial choice of career was hotel management, which led him to two years studying in Switzerland and a subsequent two years working on the cruise ship QE2. Though this provided him with an exciting life filled with travel, stargazing and the like, an experience he will never forget, he knew deep down his heart lay elsewhere. The fancy world of the QE2 and the life of a handthrown potter, are miles apart. So where did this passion spawn?

Parents may not be aware of the impact summer-time hobbies have on the minds of their children. Colm, in his early years, spent his summer holidays attending Mrs. Carroll’s craft courses in the Pine Forest. When Colm returned to Dublin in 1993 he felt drawn back to the memories of his childhood making pottery in the Pine Forest.

He embarked on a succession of in-depth courses, his interest grew, his passion grew and he completed his pottery trade with various leading Irish-based potters, in particular Healy Pottery in Kilmacanogue and Bob and Emma from Iveragh Pottery in Kerry,

In September 1996, Colm launched his own pottery when he acquired a unit at the original Liffey Trust Centre, East Wall, Dublin. Here, with his staff of ten young enthusiastic potters, he created and designed an entire range of stoneware pottery, including lamps, bowls and vases of various sizes to satisfy both corporate needs and the Irish retail market.

Colm was really doing well and his passion was growing from strength to strength as was his business until one sad day in November 2001, it all came to a devastating end. He was awoken early on that November morning with a knock on his door and a member of his team shouting “the building is on fire, the building is on fire…”

Colm looked across the Liffey from Bóthar Tig Mac Colum and his heart sank when he saw the smoke bellowingup from the Liffey Trust Centre. He was devastated. He was left with nothing but a few ceramics, glazed pots and a pile of rubble. Fortunately, he said, nobody was injured but sadly a lot of new enterprise businesses went that unfortunate night in November.

As the year passed and his emotions settled, he set about with a huge vigour to re-establish Colm De Rís pottery again from scratch. His memories from his initial venture flooded back and he knew he was in for one long, uphill struggle. Amazingly, almost a year to the day, he had secured a large warehouse at the Five Lamps area in Dublin 1. Through sheer hard work, determination and fate, Colm managed to climb back on his feet and it was not long before his old clients returned with an exciting curiosity and a big welcome back!

His pots which are all hand-thrown, come in strong colours, deep reds and rich blues with distinctive, soft sweeping shapes, creating an almost modern celtic feel. The high gloss finish is achieved by firing his work in a gas-fired kiln to porcelain temperatures, which not only adds to the aesthetic beauty of his work but also makes it suitable for functional daily use, dishwasher friendly and it can be used in ovens or microwaves.

Colm’s lamps against a stark white background are breathtaking. Colm’s work carries its own mystique and style. The way in which the colours are applied and intertwined with the ever-tempting red against the strong, deep blue, finding their own settling boundaries upon firing, makes each piece unique.

Colm is delighted to be trading again and he truly enjoys what he does. He is as hands on with a welder and shield as he is at the pottery wheel. He finds the maintenance of the machinery challenging but an interesting, frustrating distraction as well as making a large three-foot lamp on the pottery wheel. He is truly skilled at his craft.

Colm can often be found at the window of Kilkenny design with his wheel and clay showing young children and adults alike how to make their cereal bowls. Not only does he think it is important that children know where their cereal bowls come from, he also hopes at least this short memory will remain with them as Mrs Carroll’s tuition did for him in the Pine Forest.

Who knows, the passion that inspired him as a young boy may be an inspiration for others in years to come.