Latvian Australian Folk Pottery

I have come across these folk style items of pottery here in Adelaide for decades.

Something about them captivates my interest, and the interest of others going by the number of midcentury lovers who are also drawn to this pottery.

They all appear to be by the same potter and I am pretty confident that the potter was Latvian or Baltic going by the designs and motifs, and from seeing other almost identical Latvian pieces on sites such as “The Baltic Shop”.

General consensus now by collectors and from feedback over the years, is that they were made here in Australia/Adelaide by a Latvian potter, post WW2 – partly because it seems odd to find a whole group of pottery by the same potter imported all the way from Latvia, and partly due to the frequency with which the pieces appear in auctions and estate sales. 

There were so many Latvian and East European Artists, Designers, Architects, Potters etc who emigrated to Australia post WWII, some of whom have become well known and documented, and many others still yet to be “discovered” or sadly with the decades passing – lost to history.

Update June 2023 – Finally this potters’ name has come to light, thanks to his granddaughter who contacted me….and yes he was a Latvian post WWII arrival by the name of Laimon “Upe” Lukstin, (b1919-d2008) and he worked from Gawler near Adelaide, South Australia.

Subscribers can read more about him below, with some really lovely photos of Laimon with his work: