Te Toi Uku – Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum
Clayworks museum in Auckland, New Zealand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Te Toi Uku – Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum is a community focused museum located in New Lynn, Auckland.[1] The museum focuses on sharing West Auckland's ceramic history and preserving the history of the New Zealand ceramics manufacturer Crown Lynn.[2][3][4]
| Te Toi Uku – Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum | |
|---|---|
Te Toi Uku: Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum, 2023. | |
 Interactive map of the Te Toi Uku – Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum area | |
Alternative names | Te Toi Uku: Crown Lynn & Clayworks Museum |
General information | |
| Location | 8 Ambrico Place, New Lynn, Auckland, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 36.9111°S 174.6802°E |
| Opened | 2015 |
| Website | |
| www | |
Background
In 2005 the Portage Ceramics Trust was founded to administrate a large private collection of ceramics and pottery-making equipment relating to Crown Lynn.[5] The collection belonged to Richard Quinn who collected Crown Lynn pottery and who in 1989, on the factory's demolition, undertook an archaeological survey of the Crown Lynn factory site.[6][7][8] Quinn collected Crown Lynn crockery, moulds, machinery, photographs and business documents.[9]
In 2015, Te Toi Uku opened to the public, the Māori name translates to 'The Art of Clay'.[9] The museum is located near the former Parker & Gardener Bros brickworks and later Crown Lynn factory site. It is also next to the original Parker & Gardener Bros downdraught kiln, built in 1927.[9][10][11][12][13][14]
The museum is supported by the Whau Local Board of the Auckland Council.[15]
Collections
The collection consists of over 6,000 objects from the 1880s to present.[4][3] While the collections mostly consist of Crown Lynn ceramics, there are also a number of objects related to the early brick and pipe industries in West Auckland.[16]
Crown Lynn
The Richard Quinn collection makes up a large proportion of Te Toi Uku's collection of Crown Lynn spanning from the 1940s to the 1980s.[17][18][19] The collection spans objects such as dinnerware, nursery ware and vitrified porcelain.[4] This also includes the Valerie Ringer Monk collection, donated by collector and author of two books on Crown Lynn; Crown Lynn Collectors Handbook and Crown Lynn A New Zealand Icon.[20][21][17] As well as the Carl Larsen collection which include ceramics from early Crown Lynn designer, Frank Carpay.[22][17]
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West Auckland Clay & Brick Industries
Te Toi Uku's collection also includes objects and machinery from the former Waitakere City Council, which are significant to the wider West Auckland clay industry.[23][4] Highlighting the developments in production techniques over time.[4] Notably the museum's collection also includes historic bricks from the collection of Auckland historian, J.T Diamond.[9] As well as extensive documentation and photographs of West Auckland industrial history.
The collections also includes pieces from 1980s company Studio Ceramics.[17]
