About Te Toi Uku
Discover what we are all about here at Te Toi Uku, Crown Lynn and Clayworks Museum.
Our Story
Te Toi Uku is a thriving community-focused Museum based in New Lynn, Auckland. Our name translates to ‘art of clay’ in te reo Māori, and our purpose is to celebrate and preserve the diverse histories associated with West Auckland’s clay industry, with a particular focus on Crown Lynn Potteries.
Operated by the Portage Ceramics Trust, Te Toi Uku was first opened in 2015. The Museum is located on the Gardener and Parker Brothers brickworks site, and we have the last remaining brick-firing kiln in Auckland next door to the Museum.
The Trust was first formed in 2005 to purchase the large private collection of Richard Quinn, comprising of ceramics and pottery-making equipment relating to Crown Lynn Potteries. This acquisition continues to make up the bulk of our present-day collection. Richard Quinn saw the tragedy in Crown Lynn’s closure and fought to preserve as much of its history as he could. Without his forethought, we would have a fraction of the insight we have now.
As well as our collection of objects related to Crown Lynn Potteries, we also house work by several other historic studio and commercial potters based in West Auckland. This includes a substantial collection of Studio Ceramics pottery.
Inside the Museum, the displays focus on two key topics – the development of Crown Lynn Potteries, and the extensive brick and pipe-making history of Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.
Te Toi Uku’s vision is to engage the public in the discovery, appreciation and understanding of ceramics, including Crown Lynn, and the part they played in the local community of New Lynn and throughout Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Our People
DIRECTOR
Louise Stevenson
Louise is an artist and art educator and was the founder and director of the community arts organisation ArtSpark. She has a Fine Arts background, and worked for several years in ceramics production, as a designer and decorator at Morris and James Pottery, and at the Garden Party Factory. Born in the Solomon Islands, where her mother served meals on Crown Lynn plates, Louise now lives in West Auckland and has a fascination with Crown Lynn and a passion for the company’s history and products. Louise is enthusiastic about the potential of Te Toi Uku to play a lively role in the Whau community and to communicate the Museum’s story to a wider regional and national audience.
MUSEUM AND COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT
Willa Langeveld
Willa is passionate about local history and preserving the stories that accompany it. She has a Bachelor of Arts in History and Sociology, and has recently completed a Certificate in Museum Practice. Willa grew up in New Lynn, eating off Crown Lynn plates bought by her parents at second-hand shops. Now, she has begun her own collection and is fascinated by the history these objects represent. Willa is excited by the growing community surrounding Te Toi Uku, and looks forward to seeing the Museum continue to flourish.
The Portage Ceramics Trust
The Portage Ceramics Trust administers Te Toi Uku. Formed in 2005 to purchase the collection of Richard Quinn, the Trust went on to establish the Museum at its current premises in 2015. The Trust continues to play an integral role in the Museum’s management.
Trust Board Members
CO - CHAIR
Robyn Mason
Robyn has an interest in uku (clay), industrial history and in engaging museum visitors with the stories of Aotearoa New Zealand. She spent much time mooching about the abandoned Hoffman Kiln in Palmerston North, before going to live in an old New England brewery, and working at an outdoor history Museum in New Hampshire. Robyn managed Auckland Libraries, Research Centre West, where she was responsible for the digitisation of the J. T. (Jack) Diamond Photographic Collection. A collection now inscribed on the New Zealand Aotearoa register of the UNESCO Memory of the World, recognising its international significance in the subject of West Auckland’s clay history and the Waitākere Ranges. She now lives in the Ranges, having been expelled from Waterview by the motorway construction, where she lived on the site of the 1850s Star Flour Mill operated by sometime brickmaker John Thomas. Robyn leads the popular Remains of the Clay walking tours in New Lynn.
CO - CHAIR
Juliet Hawkins
Juliet has a Diploma in Graphic Design and soon after finishing went to work in the Design Studio at Crown Lynn Potteries from 1979 until 1983. She later went on to work at Auckland Museum from 1984 to 2008 as an Artist Technician and Contract Display artist. She has also worked at Alberton & Highwic. In late 2024 Juliet retired after 22 years as Curator of the Ernest & Marion Davis Library which contains a medical collection within Auckland Hospital. Juliet has been involved with Te Toi Uku since 2008 when she was part of the team that catalogued the Richard Quinn collection and her experience at Crown Lynn has helped identify and describe objects held in the Museum.
SECRETARY
Claire Preen
Claire Preen is a ceramic artist, whose figurative sculptures have won awards at a national level, including the Auckland Studio Potters Fire and Clay premier award and the premier award at Quarry Arts. Claire completed the diploma in Ceramic Arts & Design at Auckland Studio Potters in 2020, having acquired along the way degrees in communications and journalism in the UK and a diploma in teaching from the University of Auckland. Claire discovered her passion for clay after a career spent behind a computer, designing, illustrating, art directing, editing, and producing books and magazines. She has worked mainly in publishing, with a brief diversion into teaching, since arriving in Aotearoa New Zealand from London as a backpacker. After a time, publishing became less challenging and enjoyable and she felt the need to do something more creative, so made the jump from keyboard to clay and quickly became addicted. She wishes that she’d found her passion earlier in life but then feels fortunate to have found it at all.
TREASURER
Fiona Drummond
Fiona Drummond has a passion for clay and ceramic heritage and is vice president of the West Auckland Historical Society. She has a qualification in Museum Practice and works as a careers advisor at Green Bay High School, where she enjoys helping young people find their pathways in the creative and other industries. She is a sustainability advocate in her workplace and beyond, writing heritage, nature and sustainability articles for the monthly Titirangi Fringe magazine. Fiona is in her happy place surrounded by plants and nature in her bush fringed Titirangi garden, and exploring NZ’s cycleways.
Jody Yawa McMillan
Jody is a community arts practitioner based in Avondale and has worked across the Whau arts community for more than a decade. As the Whau Arts Broker she supports local artists, community groups and creative projects through funding, partnerships and connections. She is also a founding member of Whau the People, an interdisciplinary community arts organisation that has developed creative spaces, exhibitions, festivals and community projects. Jody has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Dunedin School of Art and is completing a postgraduate diploma in Museums and Cultural Heritage at the University of Auckland. Her work brings together contemporary arts, photography and local heritage, with a particular interest in how creative practice can connect people with place and strengthen local identity. Jody lives beside the Whau River and has a strong interest in the layers of history found across the area - from its importance as a portage for tangata whenua to the clay-making and other industries that developed along the river. She is particularly interested in Te Toi Uku’s role in preserving and sharing these stories, and in connecting the Whau’s heritage with the communities who live here today.
Jane Legget
Jane has worked widely in the museum and heritage sector in the United Kingdom and Aotearoa New Zealand and was latterly Head of Research at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, as well as teaching Museum Studies at Victoria University of Wellington and Massey University. She has a special affection for, and an active interest in, small community museums having served as North Island Regional Museums Development Officer with National Services Te Paerangi, Museums of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. She is currently Co-Chair of the Strategic Plan Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and a past chair of ICOM Aotearoa New Zealand.
ADVISORY TRUSTEE
Leanne Taylor
After gaining a BA/BCom, Leanne headed to Europe and then on to London, where she completed a post-graduate Diploma in Personnel and Development and landed her dream role, working for the British Red Cross as their Head of International HR for 10 years. On her return to New Zealand in 2007, she has held senior HR roles with Oxfam Aotearoa, Emerge Aotearoa and currently with Odyssey. A proud Westie, she is actively engaged in her local community, as a local Labour party member and was New Lynn's elected representative on the Portage Licencing Trust (PLT) from 2016 to 2025. As PLT's President, she supported the development of a 5-year Community funding strategy that established a new Innovation Fund and established funding priorities for the Your West Support Fund. She also facilitated the gifting of PLT's unique and diverse ceramics collection of award-winning pieces to the Portage Licensing Trust.