Juried Functional Teapot Show III: Salt Lake City
We held the Juried Functional Teapot Show III in the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, March 26-29th, 2025.
It was a lot of work making the show, but I’m proud of how it came together. The catalogue was particularly labor-intensive. It includes information about each teapot and the makers, as well a note from the jurors, a note about the teacups and a foreword by Pete Pinnell.
You can download a free PDF copy of the catalogue here.
Over 6,000 people came to NCECA in Salt Lake City. Would they come to see the teapot show though? I was a tad worried as we were located in a back corner of the very very large convention center. Unloading the teapots and setting up was a surprisingly athletic event. We had to park and unload a literal mile from room 260B, where the show was. I was worried people would not find us, but I needn’t have been concerned.
In the end, I was astounded at how many folks came through over the several days it was open to the public. It was always busy! I barely went to other talks and demonstrations as I had to keep the tea flowing and also just enjoyed being in there. There was so much enthusiasm for the selection of teapots we had on display. Attendees were welcome to handle the pots, as long as they were careful. I only had to caution one person who was pawing them with too much abandon.
Before the show, I’d only seen the photographs of the teapots (from the submissions and then the catalogue images taken by Joey Davenport). So it was a real treat for me to handle the teapots, too.
Throughout the show, we served cold-brewed Wenshan Baozhong oolong tea from our tea sponsor, Eco-Cha, and sour taffy from the Salt Lake candy institution Sweet’s.
Here are some photographs from the opening taken by Jonathan Clare. Big thanks to him for helping document the show!
Now I want to show all of the teapots next to their makers. In no particular order…
I was overwhelmed by the end of NCECA, and cried several times on the final day (which is unlike me — not to say it never happens, but it is somewhat rare!). Overall I found it to be a joyous, wonderful experience, and all of our hard work paid off.
We managed to sell about half of the teapots during the show. I listed the rest on my website after and in the end about 20 remained unsold.
The show went so well I’m inclined to try and make it happen again next year in Detroit.
