Who We Are

Salamander Pottery began in 1980 in Port Orchard, WA (about an hour away from Seattle next to the Olympic Peninsula). Its name refers to the Alchemist's belief that the salamander, an animal that combines within itself the elements of water, earth, and air, would turn into Philosophical Gold going through fire. It seemed like an auspicious name for our little studio. All of our designs originate from Donna's fertile mind. She may well have an obsession with the egg shape (I should look up what Freud has to say about it) since so much of her pottery relates to that very form. Many of the translucent porcelain bells originate from the egg shape and so do many of her people jars. She also makes lovely bowls and tiles whose shape has nothing to do with eggs or chickens (she does make those too, by the way) as well as planters, fish, and urns... but you'll be able to see all of this if you click the "what we make" link above.

Donna Vaquer: A graduate in art from Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood, CA, Donna was attending classes at UCLA leading to an elementary teaching certificate and was so bored that she took some pottery classes to cheer her up. She taught for many years and pottery was never abandoned but it was only in the late '70s when we moved to Washington that it became her primary interest. She is a former president of the board of Northwest Craft Alliance, which organizes two major shows in Seattle and one in Portland under the name "Best of the Northwest." She is familiar with many techniques of firing, including: gas fired cone ten reduction, electric firing cone six, raku, low-fired terra-cotta, and wood firing.

Federico Vaquer: Also a former teacher, Federico shares his time between social work and counseling in Tacoma and doing a variety of jobs for Salamander Pottery: mixing glazes, payroll (we presently have two people working for us), general accounting, and shipping. He goes with Donna to help at every show, about ten a year. He has almost exclusive charge of the computer. He will be the one most likely to process your order and correspond with you.