Briar Gardner was one of New Zealand’s first studio potters. She was Sir Tom Clark’s aunt, and both lived and worked at the Gardner brickworks in New Lynn.   

Born in Hobsonville in 1879, Briar was raised amongst brick-making – the Gardners being one of Auckland’s many brick-making families. In 1902, three of her brothers set up a brickworks in New Lynn, and Briar joined them. In 1929, Amalgamated Brick and Pipe Co. was established, which included the Gardner brothers, R. O. Clark, New Zealand Brick and Tile Company, and Glenburn Fireclay and Pottery Company.  

In the 1930s, when Tom Clark first established what was to become Crown Lynn Potteries, Briar was key in enabling women to gain employment there. She was essential in setting up the appropriate facilities for these women, and remained for the next year as an invaluable advisor to Tom and the company.   

It wasn’t until she was 46 years old that Brair first began potting. An influential figure in her introduction to pottery was William Speers, an English potter who was employed by her brother Jack Gardner in 1925. Speers had previously been employed by Royal Doulton, and was hired by the Gardners to develop the domestic arm of the company.  

Speers had a throwing wheel, and he and Briar agreed that she would be able to use the wheel from 5.30 to 7.30am before he started work. From this point on, Briar’s passion for ceramics grew, and she had her first exhibition in 1930 at the Auckland Society of Arts.  

In the 1940s, Briar began teaching pottery to servicemen who returned from the war disabled both psychologically and physically. Briar had a long-standing relationship to several charitable societies, and this theme continued throughout her life.  

Over the decades, Briar’s success grew, though she never took advantage of the opportunity for industrialisation that her family presented, preferring instead to keep her production within what she could manage alone. However, Briar’s work was sold at several department stores, including Smith and Caugheys and Milne and Choyce. She also exported her work to Australia.  

Much of Briar’s ceramics were decorated with distinctly Māori motifs, and she often included depictions of Aotearoa’s native plants. One of the few Briar Gardner pieces we have in our collection at Te Toi Uku has a sculpted kowhai flower adorning the front.