Don Carpentier, self-taught potter, creator of Mochaware, and historic preservationist who has assembled Eastfield Village in East Nassau, N.Y., is slated to give an illustrated lecture on “Spode: The Best of the Best Dinnerware and Crockery” at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum on Saturday, December 11, at 3:00pm.  A Holiday Victorian Tea will follow and the speaker will have an assortment of Mochaware on display.  

A man of many accomplishments, including pottering, tinsmithing, assembling and restoring buildings dating from 1790 to 1840, teaching, serving as a consultant to museums and filmmakers, Carpentier began to learn the techniques of recreating 18th century Mochaware.  During this process, he traveled to England many times to learn about clays, paints and glazes by digging at early kiln sites.   

Four years ago, the centuries-old Spode factory at Stoke-on-Trent, England, was clearing its buildings in preparation of razing them.  It approached appropriate institutions in Great Britain, offering them historically important contents in order to preserve them.  No one was interested.  The Spode curator then contacted Carpentier, who jumped at the chance, thereby saving thousands of molds, tools and the complex techniques used to make early pottery.  The contents are now at Eastfield Village, where they are being archived for future generations.

This program is supported in part by grants from the Alford-Egremont Cultural Council, the Richmond Cultural Council, the Sandisfield Cultural Council, the Sheffield Cultural Council and the West Stockbridge Cultural Council, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.