You saw our board at Co-op Place
Made possible by clay
Plainsman Clays has been making pottery clay in Medicine Hat since 1966. Here’s what’s behind the sign.
Thanks for looking us up
We’re a Medicine Hat company that has been making pottery clay since 1966, on the same corner of town Luke Lindoe picked when he started. Most people who drive past our building have no idea what goes on inside it. Here’s the short version.
1966
Making clay in
Medicine Hat ever since
#1
Largest pottery clay
maker in Canada
40+
Clay bodies, every one
tested in our own lab
12
4 Stores & 8 dealers
across North America
What actually happens here
Short version: raw prairie earth goes in one end, and the material potters across Canada work with comes out the other.
ONE
We mine it
Our clay comes out of deposits we own on the prairies – most of it across the border in Saskatchewan. We don’t buy our raw material from anyone. Very few clay companies can say that.
TWO
We make it here
It arrives in Medicine Hat as rock and earth. We blend, test every batch and mix it into dozens of different clay bodies – each one built for a particular job, colour and firing temperature.
THREE
We send it everywhere
Out the door to studios, schools, universities and potters in every province, plus our own stores in Medicine Hat, Edmonton, Surrey and Parksville.
Bet you didn’t know
A few things about the company whose sign you just read.
01 – We’re older than the Tigers
We’ve been at this since 1966. The Tigers played their first season in 1970. We had a four-year head start, and we have never once made the playoffs.
02 – We’re the biggest in the country
No company in Canada makes more pottery clay than we do. All of it from a building most people in town have driven past a thousand times.
03 – There’s a lab involved
Clay is chemistry. Every body we make gets tested – for shrinkage, strength, absorption, colour and how it behaves in a kiln. Get it wrong and someone’s work cracks on the shelf.
04 – We sell more than clay
Kilns, wheels, glazes, tools and everything else a studio needs. If somebody you know makes pottery, there’s a good chance some of their gear came from us.
05 – Somebody you know owns a piece of it
The handmade mug in your cupboard had to start somewhere. Many of them start here, and most of the people who own one have never heard of Medicine Hat.
And one more thing
Proud partner of the Medicine Hat Tigers
We’re a proud advertising partner of the Medicine Hat Tigers. It’s a great team in a great arena, and we’re glad our name is up there at Co-op Place.
Thanks for checking in
That’s us. If you’re curious about what we make, or you know someone who works with clay, the door’s open. Four of them, in fact.
