Lot #52: Vintage "Lambert Potteries Ltd" - "#2 Beaver Mask" Vancouver B.C

People: David Lambert, -d.1985. Retired Canadian soldier, member of the British Ceramic Society, established the first commercial production pottery in Vancouver, BC, designer of kilns, considered the godfather of BC pottery industry, part-time teacher at Vancouver Art School, one of the originators of the BC Potters Guild. Married to potter Elfrida Vivien Marlon-Lambert, (1918-2015).The Beginning: Lambert Potteries Ltd. began by producing similar items to pottery found in European countries. Lambert felt this needed to change; he was in a new country doing a new thing in that country. At the time, there was no established or indigenous BC ceramics or pottery industry First Nations Coastal peoples did not make pottery; rather they used natural elements such as cedar bark for utilitarian and ritual wares and only a few amateur BC potters used local clay as it was too expensive to import from Medicine Hat, AB and Saskatchewan. David Lambert realized the need to create pottery that represented BCs coastal culture he began to create something that would be new and yet old at the same time, pottery that represented the regional system, something that could be recognized as truly pertaining to the country in which we live. He incorporated West Coast first peoples designs used on everyday objects onto pottery and created WEST COAST INDIAN DESIGNS ON HAND MADE POTTERY.