You’ve got the soap, now here’s the dish. At last, you can reverentially place your solid soap on its own little shrine to hygiene. No plastic involved, just what you’ve been praying for!

Soap dish designs and styles in the order of the above photos:

1. Royal Purple Shell Soap Dish = £15

2. Underside of Royal Purple Shell Soap Dish

3. Examples of previous designs of these soap dishes in use. The leaf holds a soap bar and the shell holds a conditioner bar. (The two dishes pictured are not currently for sale. Email the address below for bespoke requests.)

....More soap dishes coming soon! Please keep checking back for a new crop of handmade soap dishes. In the meantime, please see Lichfield Studio Pottery's Etsy Shop for more ceramic goodness. Plastic-free packaging of course as this Etsy shop is also managed by ABP!

These soap dishes, including the octagons and shells, are approximately 10.5cm to 11cm in diameter, but every dish differs, so there can be very slight variations in size. The oval soap dishes are smaller than the rest, approx 10cm x 7.5cm, which will neatly fit half a bar of soap. The rectangles are also smaller, at 12cm x 7cm. Any major variation in size is noted in the list above. Hopefully, these dimensions will help you work out if these soap dishes are a perfect fit for your bathroom or kitchen.

Get your hands on these one-of-a-kind, beautiful ceramic soap dishes, handmade by my very own mother. The flower design on some of the soap dishes is produced using a piece of vintage crocheted lace which was owned by my nan (and possibly even made by her!) Creative reuse, right? Each soap dish is handmade, so like snowflakes, no two pottery soap dishes made by Maggie Derry will ever be the same, meaning you get your own uniquely designed piece!

Please direct comments, queries or reviews about any of the ceramic products to Maggie at - lichfieldstudiopottery@gmail.com

Handmade Ceramic Soap Dishes

£15.00

Quantity

Miss those plastic pump dispenser bottles for liquid handwash? Didn’t they contain soap so well? Never fear though, as solid soaps can have their own containing solution too. Step up please soap dish to take your rightful place on the sink. Isn’t life better when your handwashing tool is contained? It’s not? Well, your reckless slapdash lifestyle is not for me, my friend. I prefer to know that my soap is safely ensconced in its own little resting place, ready for when I need it, rather than slipping off to who-knows-where, as soaps are prone to do by themselves. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
If you’ve started using solid soaps in your bathroom, you may have encountered this slippery issue; put a wet soap bar on a surface, and no matter what, that soap will slide away from where you placed it. It’s like sinks and soaps are in collusion, as after you’ve washed your hands the soap falls in the sink, so you wash your hands again to get the soap off, then as soon as you turn off the tap… your soap is in the sink again. If this problem is limited to just me then at least I’ll know that the air of malevolence my sink gives off is not my imagination.

To solve this sudsy conundrum, we introduce… the humble soap dish. Keeps your solid soaps from slipping away from you and it helps neaten up your bathroom. These soap dishes have luxuriously tinted glazed finishes to add a splash of colour to your otherwise notably plain white porcelain bathroom sets.

What’s more, these soap dishes have raised features on the design, which help your soap to dry out in between uses, so that it lasts longer!
Well you could buy a plastic soap dish for about a pound if you really wanted to. But, seeing as you are here, I imagine that you are definitely pulling a face at that suggestion, I know I am. Why not treat yourself to a ceramic soap dish instead then?

Yes, they are clearly more expensive than your average soap dish, but these have been made by a real live person, (I can prove it) who enjoys making this functional art and puts care and attention to detail in her work. You can also clearly chase the origin of these soap dishes, whereas do you know where the one you picked up in the supermarket came from? Plus, don’t you want to make your bathroom look pretty? You’ll get all the compliments from any house guests visiting your bathroom, I promise. (If they don’t notice, they clearly have no taste.)

I’ll reiterate, every one of these soap dishes is a unique and original one-off piece. As they are all handmade, and because of the temperamental nature of the firing process in pottery, every single one will have slight variations, in shape, colour and design. Whichever one you choose, it has been made just for you. 😊 That’s worth it wouldn’t you say?
What are they made from?

Clay- White stoneware

Glazes – transparent, opal, cobalt oxide and copper red.

Where do they come from?

Handmade in the UK, in the self-styled ‘creative county’ of Staffordshire. These soap dishes have been fired by sculptress and ceramic artist Karen Bird, at her studio, Stone House Studios, in Drayton Basset. (If you are local and are interested in pottery lessons, look Karen up! The studio is beautiful too, I’ve been there and it is such a lovely place. 😊)

Are they sustainable?

Pottery is an incredibly long lasting and useful material, as evidenced by archaeological digs which help us learn so much about past civilisations, namely, what kinds of pots they used. Clay and the glazes used on the clay are inert once fired. So, despite the fact it is so durable, it won’t damage the environment in any way if left lying around in a field for future archaeologists to wonder at. This durability is comparable to plastics, but because we’ve been digging up pottery of older civilisations for years, it seems less intrusive and, you could say, more of an educational material. Whereas plastic… I can’t be the only one who feels uncomfortable about future archaeological digs finding plastic bottles and disposable nappies as evidence of our civilisation. What does that say about us? I’d rather they say we had a fondness for patterned ceramic soap dishes in this age than have them point out our throwaway polluting culture.

The white stoneware clay used for these soap dishes is dug up in Brownhills which is only about 8 miles away from where the maker is based. The clay is probably processed/cleaned in Stoke-on-Trent, (if not in the Brownhills area) which is 26 miles away. The clay is then made into soap dishes and fired in Drayton Bassett which is about 15 miles away. So, the carbon footprint for this clay is really quite low! These soap dishes will probably travel more distance to get to you than during its manufacturing supply chain, which I think is really impressive from a carbon emissions perspective.

Glazes - looking into it.

How about ethical?

I definitely have my mother enslaved in a sweat shop style environment, forcing her to produce these for me. …Or, she makes them of her own volition during her weekly pottery classes she’s been going to for years and loves. (You might say she’s M.A.D for it… as her initials spell out that is. Potters tend to write their initials on the bottom of their work.) You can believe whichever explanation seems most likely.

Extra good stuff:

You’ll be encouraging my mother’s art and fledgling pottery business that she wants to set up as a side hustle for her own enjoyment. What a lovely person you are for being so supportive!

Conclusion –

Soap dishes are an integral part of any bathroom and I’ve no idea how you’ve lived without one for so long. Your soaps life will be changed forever when it has its own dish, it will settle down and dry out just like it should, rather than slipping and sliding all over the place. The relief you have in knowing the welfare of your soap has improved is evident, I can see. Happy to help.