FFERN × NORFOLK PAMMENTS
In our search for a sustainable diffuser for our fragrances, we lighted upon terracotta as a traditionally used material that is kind to the earth - and from there worked with tilemakers Norfolk Pamments to develop our bespoke diffusion stones, handmade from Suffolk clay.
We spoke to mother-daughter team Annie and Zoe to understand more about the process of making the stones - and spent the day with them at their small factory in Norfolk with photographer Kendal Noctor. Here are their words, and the photographs.
Pamments or pammets are a mix of clay and sand hydraulically compressed into moulds one at a time, then turned out and left to air dry until most of the water content has been given up.
They are fired when sufficiently dry, an alchemical process which transforms the humble materials into durable and beautiful tiles.
The use of clay to make tiles may be found in many areas but is particularly common in East Anglia because of the lack of stone (other than flint) for building. It is deeply satisfying to be able to carry on a venerable tradition.
The clay itself is astonishingly old. It is peppered with fossils and fossil fragments. Handling it connects not just to the natural world but also to history. A sense of this pervades the finished pamments.
The clays we use have different characteristics and qualities depending on the mineral content. The Suffolk Terracotta clay, our most local clay, has been stored above ground, having been excavated quite some time ago. As it has matured it is pleasant to work, having a good texture - but, typically for the area, it does contain lime. Specks of lime in the clay tend to expand when wet; these small ‘lime pops’ form part of the character of the tiles.
Antique White clay is robust, a little coarser in texture and well behaved. When the two clays are mixed to make the range of Heritage Pinks, the resulting pamments combine the best of both clays in delicate shades of pink.
The King’s Lynn Rustic clay is distinctly quixotic. It is full of contaminants, dug straight out of a huge hole in the ground. It can come out of the kiln almost the same colour as the Suffolk Terracotta, or it may be variegated in colour: red, sand colour, purply slate dark, pink, bluey green… At the factory it is affectionately known as ‘rainbow clay’. In larger sizes it has been known to overheat and explode, so now it is only used for smaller pamments.
The clay diffusers begin life as a thin flat sheet of pressed clay. The circles are individually cut, have the edges cleaned and then are individually stamped.
The cut discs are carefully transferred onto sheets of ply and spread out to dry for as long as it takes. Once they are considered ready they are stacked on the truck with the floor tiles and pushed into the kiln. They spend the next couple of days inside it as the temperature climbs to the maximum required, peaks and slowly cools down.
Our mother-daughter team is great. We complement each other so well. Zoe makes the pamments. She has an intuitive understanding of their physicality and a well-developed tolerance of my [Annie’s] micromanaging ways.
I love to do research and to look after the website. We are both strongly motivated to do whatever it takes to make fine quality products and to honour the clay. Fortunately we have a similar sense of humour, which tides us over the stress and difficult times inevitable with a very small business.
Annie and Zoe, founders of Norfolk Pamments
Photography by Kendal Noctor for Ffern.