Description
Bring a piece of Irish native woodland into your daily ritual with this ceramic soap dish by Kate Ramsbottom, made by hand in her County Laois studio. Modestly sized for a bathroom shelf or basin edge, it carries an extraordinary depth of storytelling.
The defining feature is an incised strawberry tree design (Arbutus unedo), one of Ireland’s rarest native trees, found wild in Kerry and along the western seaboard. Kate draws the distinctive character of the tree by hand into the leather-hard clay: the small, serrated evergreen leaves, the bell-like white-pink blossoms, and the bumpy, strawberry-like fruit that ripens in autumn while the tree is still flowering. The incising technique creates fine, clean grooves that remain visible and pleasingly tactile through the glaze—a quiet invitation to trace the foliage with your thumb as you reach for the soap.
Unlike applied decoration, an incised design becomes part of the object’s very structure. The strawberry tree motif sits slightly recessed, catching light and shadow across the dish’s surface. A soft, durable glaze protects the piece while allowing the carved lines to remain legible and inviting.
Practical as well as poetic: raised ribs or a gently drained base (as per Kate’s design) keep the soap from sitting in water, extending both the soap’s life and the dish’s usefulness. For the gardener, the botanist, or anyone who values Irish craft with a sense of place, this strawberry tree soap dish transforms a humble necessity into a small, enduring connection to the natural world.
