Jamie Niessen and Randy Perry | Co-owners
Welcome to our world; we’re a couple who ditched careers in Toronto for a slower-paced life serving up stoneware realness in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. We’re from Alberta and PEI and after long corporate careers we decided to return to Randy’s home province, buy a small business and learn a hands-on craft. So, in 2017 we changed corporate suites for entrepreneurial hats and bought Island Stoneware. Along the way we rediscovered a love of gathering with friends and family and feeding our souls. We set about evolving the business into one whose values match our own. We have an eye for detail, a passion for quality, and a desire to own a sustainable retail and wholesale business. We’re art lovers but will be the first to admit that we’re not artists or potters. We’re part of a small team composed of trained potters and artists who leave the design, throwing and carving to the more creative studio members.
We’re drawn to what Island Stoneware represents; a time-honored timeless tradition of hearty meals shared with family and friends; collaborating with an island community of innovators, makers, growers, producers, chefs, and restaurants; and providing well-made quality products to our customers in Canada and around the world.
"Island Stoneware is our opportunity to introduce the joy and beauty of pottery to old and new generations. Food brings us together. And tasty food, beautifully presented in handcrafted pottery makes the whole experience even better."
Gena Denning
Gena's perfect day would be sitting down and making 200 of the same thing.
Gena grew up in rural New Brunswick and has a background in graphic design and photography. She attended a few open studio workshops in a small, friendly studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and fell in love with the craft of pottery. Immediately, she packed up her life and moved to Fredericton, New Brunscwick to enroll in more classes. She graduated from the ceramics program at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in 2014.
Gena joined the Island Stoneware team immediately after graduating. She says she wouldn't have the skills she has today without that first job here at the studio. Gena left in 2017 to travel around the country collecting pottery skills at every stop. In 2023, she came back to the Island and our studio. Like many Island residents and visitors, Gena loves the slow and quiet pace of the Island. We are so pleased she came back home and joined us at the studio!
Her own work is whimsical and usually informed by wherever she is living at the time. This often takes the form of painting local flora and fauna on porcelain clay and carving textile-inspired motifs on stoneware. Gena spends all her down time also working with her hands - knitting, crocheting, cross stitching, sewing or cooking something new.
Martin Jarman
Since his first pottery lesson at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design (NBCCD), Martin has been hooked on pottery. Initially resisting taking a class, that all changed as soon as he got his hands on clay. He was fascinated by the beauty that skilled hands could coax from such a humble material, literally mud from the earth. Until graduation he spent every possible waking moment at the wheel honing his craft. After graduating from NBCCD, Martin moved to Prince Edward Island and began working at Island Stoneware as the junior technician, a job he describes as his working apprenticeship. Surrounded by many experienced potters at Island Stoneware in those early early made every day a huge learning and growing opportunity. After several years, Martin left our studio to embark on a great working journey across the country.
A self-described pottery nomad, Martin has spent the last decade travelling across Canada making pots and teaching pottery. This journey took him from the east coast to west coast and back again. This time was a great experience, exposing him to tons of exciting and different ways of making pots. And, after a decade of upheaval, Martin was left him with a strong desire to settle in one place. As a Maritimer, he felt there was no better place to return to than Prince Edward Island. When he was away from the PEI, Martin found he would always talk about his Island experiences and, especially, his time at Island Stoneware. The return to PEI and our studio felt like a natural return. We are incredibly delighted to have him back!
Martin was, is and will always be driven to create. From sun up until sun down you will find him either elbows deep into clay or holding a paintbrush. For Martin there is no better way to spend a life than creating art in such a beautiful setting as Prince Edward Island.
"Making pottery by hand is our business, joy, and passion. By choosing to buy from our small working studio in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada, you’re supporting our dreams and livelihood."
Jamie Niessen, Owner