What I know about John Bergen

A number of people have contacted me about John so I thought I'd throw a bit of information on the web here to satisfy peoples curiosity.

I know that John (Waterloo boy of Mennonite background) went to the Ontario College of Art and studied with Angelo Di Petta for a few years, even living in the back of Angelo's house in Toronto while he was in school. (Apparently the plumb tree in the back yard produced a goodly amount of fruit which John invariably turned into pastries for Angelo and his wife.) After school John moved back to Waterloo, and when I met him after working at Stratford Clay Supply had closed, was producing lowfired slipcast ware in quite the little factory on Charles Street. He manufactured designs that he would market through Mikasa, the international dinnerware manufacturing firm. He would provide us with the moulds, because he wanted very specific shapes, we would buy the slip, cast, clean up, and fire his stuff bisque, then deliver it to him in specific sized boxes, which would roll down the conveyer belt to be decorated by his workers in specific colours, designed to capture the interior decorating market trends of the season, and then be shipped off for international distribution. It was, and is, very nice work.

John's designs incorporated bold, clean forms with brushed and/or sprayed underglazes and glazes which, every season, he would crank out. Mostly vase forms; although, he had a great design for a large platter and was very inovative in figuring out manufacturing problems. But the economy changed and John didn't need me to work for him any more so I moved on in my carrer, John survived the downturn in the economy and built up a really great small decorative ceramics factory there. He never really participated in the outside community of potters in the area, which is a shame as I'm sure that he would have had alot to offer, certainly in terms of a business and design perspective. However, as it happens he sold his enterprise and is now running a bakery/eatery/coffee house called the "City Cafe" in Kitchener and by all reports from my 16 year old daughter makes,"The best Pizza in THE WORLD!!!".

John was always into food and good design. He loved to cook. A foody before there were foodys. The various people who provided him with sipcast ware generally tried to arrive just before coffee break, 'cause he had the best coffee. and the funky little room that was the office/coffee room was strewn with great european design magazines that were great to pour over. In a conversation I had with Angelo Di Petta, Angelo said that he had recieved a note from John saying that he had done as he had promised. He was going to work at clay untill a certain age and then quit, and that's what he did. John always was a man of his word.