Hoganas, a Swedish town once famous for its salt-glazed ceramics, is having a renaissance.
Happily, it was out of commission, which made dinner much more comfortable.
The oven was so big we could have fit a dozen more people without feeling crowded.
The Grand Hôtel presides over the coastal town of Mölle.Credit:Courtesy of Kullahalvön
The walls were midnight-black from generations of soot.
But with globalization came outsourcing, and in 2008, the kilns went cold.
Courtesy of KKAM
Sherry and I spent a weekend in Hoganas for a hands-on tour of the ceramics renaissance.
From left: Helena Petersson, who makes the ceramics she uses at her café in Arild, Sweden; coffee and cake at the café.Courtesy of Arilds Hamnfik
We stayed atRusthallargarden,a rustic inn that was built as a farm in 1675.
On a hill about 50 yards away, a half dozen of them were happily munching grass.
We are city people, and whenever we see livestock, we must yell.
From left: Ceramic artist Bente Brosbøl Hansen at work in the KKAM studios; ceramics made at the KKAM studio.Courtesy of KKAM
The kids like it.
Plus it saves us having to mow the lawn.
This is where we got married, Sandberg explained.
Apple-glazed Skåne goose with roasted potatoes at the Rusthållargården hotel, in Arild.Lena Evertsson/Courtesy of Rusthållargården
On the drive past green landscapes we saw countless keramik signs, indicating a small pottery studio or showroom.
In Hoganas, ceramics are everywhere.
By the time we left, I was, indeed, bursting with inspiration.
The Kullens lighthouse, in Mölle.Pavel Dudek/Alamy
But Sandberg assured me that would be no problem at all.
Inside our classroom, sleek metal lights overhead illuminated a long butchers block with five potters wheels.
Just an hour earlier, this wouldve sounded like half-baked Zen.
Ransvik Havsveranda, a seaside restaurant in Mölle.Courtesy of Ransvik Havsveranda
But sitting in front of the spinning wheel, it made perfect sense.
I took a pottery class in fifth grade, he sheepishly explained.
Its terribly annoying, Sandberg said with a laugh.
But he was born here.
And if youre from Hoganas, ceramics are in your blood.
