Blue Mountain Pottery BMP - 17th in Canadiana Series

Blue Mountain Pottery Canada (BMP) - 17th in Canadiana Series

Blue Mountain Pottery, Canada, commonly referred to as "BMP" was founded by Jozo Weider, a Czech ski instructor, in the late 1940's.  His dream was to start a ski resort in Collingwood, Ontario Canada and to provide income for resort employees during the off season, he purchased white ceramic blanks for them to hand paint ski motif scenes and sold them in the ski barn during ski season.  

While building the ski resort, the craftsmen set up their first studio in a barn at the base of Blue Mountain and experimented in making pottery from the rich red Georgian Bay clay being removed during construction of the resort. They mixed it in a vintage washing machine!  After curing for 12 hours, the glazes were applied.  Here they invented their trademarked glazing process called "reflowing decorating" by dipping the pottery items into two different kinds of liquid glaze to achieve a streaky effect and then firing in their newly built kilns at temperatures reaching 1840 degrees F to allow the glazes to flow freely together. Their iconic "flow-green" glazing colour was their attempt to mimic the colours appearing on the face of Blue Mountain in the summer with the vivid blues and greens of spruce and pine trees intersected with the darker cleared winter ski runs! 

Here is an example of the traditional flow green/blue glaze BMP is known for worldwide.  

A triangular candy dish.  For more info on this BMP Dish, please click HERE

Since the firing process cannot be strictly controlled EVERY piece of BMP pottery is different!

BMP used many colour combinations over the years, many of which were intended to mimic other natural elements found on Blue Mountain, such as the yellow-brown and red-black hues that illustrate the vivid colours of autumn on the mountain. 

Here is an example of BMP's "Harvest Gold" colour, using the yellow-brown glaze combination.

A tidbit or canape Serving Plate with centre handle.

For more info on this plate, please click HERE

Blue Mountain Pottery has been identified with a variety of marks over the years.  Early marks were incised into the pottery base before firing.  Later, molds were created with the marks embossed on the bottom.  Above, is an example of an embossed "BMP CANADA" mark. It also came in script or block letters.  The mark shown is c1970's.  Another mark is their embossed "Triple Tree" logo, an arrangement of 3 triangles with stems and "CANADA" embossed beneath.  The tree logo is often confused with Laurentian Pottery out of Quebec who also used an arrangement of triangular trees for a time.  BMP also used blue and white sticker labels, especially on their hollow figurine pieces which often do not have an actual base on which to emboss a logo signature.  Not many labels have survived for obvious reasons.

BMP can be found in the Traditional Flow Green/Blue, Harvest Gold, Cobalt Blue, Pewter, Red, Brown, Slate, Plum, Avocado, Light Blue, Granite, and Mocha.  The last few colours mentioned are extremely difficult to find.  They had shorter production periods or were not as popular as the more traditional drip effects, so fewer were sold.

Here is an example of BMP's Mocha Drip, a matte light brown glaze with a dark drip.  Highly sought after now as one of their rare or hard to find colours.

A BMP Mocha Drip Tea Set. c1970's. Unfortunately, the teapot lid is missing from this collection.

For more info on the pieces in this Tea Set, please click HERE

During one BMP ownership change, some molds were accidentally sent to a landfill site and were recovered by one of the other Canadian potteries, possibly being shared or duplicated among others.  As a result, several BMP designs have been created by other Canadian potteries but the finishing glazes differ from the original BMP production pieces. Care must be taken with identification on a piece that is not signed.  Compare glazes with other existing examples.   

To prevent further reproduction, when BMP ceased operations in 2004 all molds were destroyed before being sent to the landfill.  BMP continued to fill orders through early 2005 from inventory on hand at the factory and is now a greatly missed Icon in Canada!  

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