Potter quickly propagated a hobby into an art business
Photo by Clay Nations Photography
Sydney Broach had dabbled in crafts before. “But nothing ever stuck,” she says, “until I tried ceramics.” What began as a hobby has now become a full-time business, Vine and Frond, with a growing product line of colorful terracotta pots, plus plants to go in them, that are sold at retail outlets in and around Asheville and bolstered by online sales.
“I prefer to highlight the natural beauty of the raw red clay,” Sydney says. “I like the soft touch paired with the texture from cuts and carvings I add in. And the wicking properties of terracotta are complementary to plants.”
Ornamentation is derived from any pattern in nature that catches her eye — veins on a leaf, the texture of an orange slice, the patterns on the shell of a crab — roughly painted onto the clay with a thin underglaze, and then incised with detail.
“I try to have fun with my designs and paint them a little wobbly and try not be a perfectionist,” she says. “Since I don’t have an artistic background and I’ve never taken a pottery class, I’ve just tried a lot of things in the studio until I found [what] works for me.”
When she set up her first pottery wheel, it seemed perfectly natural to use the laundry room where she propagated her own houseplants. It was there she taught herself how to throw on the wheel by watching videos and reading books and practicing at night and on weekends away from her then-day job, which, as it happened, was at a plant nursery. (Her business launched just as the COVID pandemic took hold.)
Adding live greenery is the signature gesture.
Photo by Clay Nations Photography
“I’m sure there was a big rise in popularity [for indoor plants] around the time of the quarantine, when many were stuck at home and looking for new hobbies or wanting to liven up their spaces,” she notes. “Having plants at home definitely enhances your space by breathing a little life, color, and texture into it.”
The potter has recently added to her product line with functional glazed dinnerware, along with whimsically patterned cloth pouches. She’s also discovered printmaking. “Since I carve almost all the pieces I create from clay, it didn’t seem like a huge leap to get into carving rubber or linoleum blocks to make prints,” she says. “There are so many directions to go in with these art forms. Maybe I’ll go further in textiles, or try out block printing with wood, or work on slower and more detailed ceramic pieces.
“They’re all complementary, and being able to shift designs over different mediums is really fun.”
Art may be new, but plants are not. “I’ve been caring for them my whole life — when I was growing up, my mom always had a jungle vibe going on at home.”
Sydney’s pre-entrepreneur life comprised a series of odd jobs she took on to gain experience in certain areas (for instance farming), or simply as a means for travel money. So when it came time to settle more or less permanently, making a living out of clay and plants was just a natural choice.
“I’ve always enjoyed digging in the dirt.”
Sydney Broach, Hendersonville, vineandfrond.com and on IG @vineandfrond. Local stockists include Art Garden AVL, Atomic Furnishing & Design, 12 Bones Smokehouse South, 5th Season Gardening, Pleb Urban Winery, Painters Greenhouse (Old Fort), Sundaze Gardens (Brevard), Starting Gardens (Etowah), and more; see the website for a full list.