Guest Blog: Livingreen Design

For most people, the love affair with Cretan terracotta pots follows a holiday spent admiring their ubiquitous presence in and around every restaurant, bar, hotel and street corner in Crete. Their unique design and style is unparalleled when it comes to creating the ambiance of the Mediterranean. No wonder we get so many requests in summer each year that start with the line “I’ve just come back from Crete, looked on the internet and can’t believe and I can get hold of genuine Cretan terracotta pots here in the UK……”

Livingreen Design through its brand Cretan Terracotta Pots, is now able to help you make your customers dreams come true, with the largest range of Cretan terracotta in stock, in the UK. We offer reseller and trade prices for every kind of customer, including Garden centres, landscape contractors and garden designers. We also offer drop ship to anywhere in the UK, Europe and beyond.

Unlike almost all other terracotta on the market, Cretan terracotta is still entirely handmade, thrown by a master potter on a wheel with no moulds of jigs involved. In fact, that they are still produced in exactly the same area of Crete, from the same clay and using the same production methods as the Minoan civilisation did 5000 years ago. Look inside any of our pots and you will see rings and ridges, running up the whole of the interior, each the width of a finger. And that’s exactly what they are, the imprints of the potters’ fingers left as they individually hand craft each pot using only a potter’s wheel. Even the clay is unique. In Crete this is so pure, it can be fired to 1200 degrees C, 300 degrees more than average clay, producing pots that not only look fantastic but are far harder and more weather resistant that typical terracotta pots meaning they are frost proof even in our somewhat chillier weather.

In an era of mass-produced disposable products, its wonderful to still be able to buy a 100% handmade pot, hand thrown, using skills that have been passed down through the ages. Call us for prices and stocking options.

Also available from Livingreen Design are our own 100% UK manufactured fibreglass planters, furniture and water features. These are beloved of garden designers and landscape contractors but equally are supplied to and sold by ecommerce retailers and garden centres.

As one of the few companies genuinely manufacturing planters and water features in the UK, we get to see trends in gardening in real time. In recent years and particularly since the Covid lockdowns we have noticed a big uptick in interest in water features and particularly miniature ponds – or the Pond in a Pot if you prefer.

While we can supply raised ponds in any size and shape, our best sellers are the 600mm -1200mm diameter water bowl. These offer a fantastic introduction to water gardening; small enough to fit into any location, yet large enough to support a full diverse aquatic habitat. They are a fantastic addition to a patio, deck or strategically placed in a bed or border.

Best of all, we are the experts in finishing fibreglass to take on the appearance of a wide variety of materials including stone, concrete, earthenware, antique lead, vintage bronze, brass, and copper plus Verdigris and not forgetting Corten (rusty) steel. This latter is extremely popular as it is much less expensive than a real Corten steel bowl and yet is totally indistinguishable from actual rusted iron.

Please visit www.livingreendesign.com to see our full range of Cretan terracotta, fibreglass planter, furniture and water features.

Email hello@livingreendesign.com or call us on 0131 440 9804. Deliveries daily, nationwide.