Pottery by design

He did not react by scaling back his dream for a pottery store. "I pulled out all the stops," says Pitonzo. "I bought everything I can get my hands on," a total of 170,000 pounds of pottery.

The reaction from customers to Glazed Expressions Pottery, which he owns with his wife, Barbara, has been gratifying.

"People say, 'Oh my God, I can't believe your selection,' " he says.

Glazed Expressions Pottery has been open since May in the building that once housed Tivoli Gardens & Fountains in the Fort Lowell furniture district.

A walk-through feels like strolling an outdoor art gallery. Paths that existed in the previous business are lined with pots on shelves and on the ground.

There's something eye-catching around every corner. Colors range from muted sand and fern green to cobalt blue and sunny yellow. Glazes run the gamut from solid to speckled to swirly to what Barbara Pitonzo calls "drippy glaze" of contrasting or monochromatic color.

A pot appropriate for a Tuscany look sports floral medallions, while stamped florals decorate a box and a ceramic lizard scampers down a 1 1/2-foot-tall pot.

Fat basins and tubs ($60-$90) that an adult can sit in contrast with 2-foot tubular pots ($79), 3-foot bud vases ($375) and Grecian-style urns ($580).

Sizes range from a 6-inch, $4 cube to a 5-foot $1,000 tapered pot.

The Chinese and Vietnamese pots come from wholesaler Pottery Land USA, for which Joseph used to work in business development and design.

Barbara says the extensive selection "actually fills a niche" in the local plant pottery market. "It has to do with variety. This is not the place to come to if you needed 20 identical pots."

At-home feel

Barbara's 84-year-old mom, Nell Lackman, helps out and chats with the customers. Lucy, the couple's cocker-spaniel puppy, hangs out, too. Her job has been to be cute in advertising and commercials.

Joseph, a musician by training, often invites customers to grab a snack he just barbecued or to listen to him play guitar.

Pots transformed

Most of the store's pots can be turned into other types of home decor. Fountains start at $65; one with three stacked pots cost $1,275. Twenty-inch-diameter ceramic orbs ($130) and regularly sized ceramic pitchers ($29) also can be used as fountains.

Custom tables starting at $250 include a handmade stone top. The store also will create a fire pit (starting at $65) or bathroom basin (starting at $60) out of pots.

Fun stuff

Barbara likes to put draping plants in a pot shaped in a jaw and mouth ($99 for two) to make it look like it has hair. The store also carries granite stones with areas polished shiny for eyes that turn the rocks into sitting owls ($10-$120).

How to pick

a great pot

Picking a gardening pot requires you to decide on both its form and its function, say two pottery sellers.

FORM

Barbara Pitonzo, co-owner of Glazed Expressions, suggests answering these questions when deciding what kind of look you want from a pot:

• What will you put in it? Not all pots are used for plants.

• What colors do you like? Bring in samples of colors you want to work with.

• What is the size of the space where you want to place the pot? Know the dimensions or bring a picture of the space on your shopping trip.

Frank Romero, manager of the Garden Center of Tucson, advises you to let your personal taste be your guide.

"Bottom line is you're going to have to look at it," says Romero. "It has to be something that you like."

FUNCTION

If you use a pot for a plant, there are some other considerations, says Romero, including:

• What size is the pot that the plant is in now?

• How big is the plant going to grow?

• How hardy is the root system? A strong root system such as a rose bush would break a thin pot. "Talavera pots are not as strong as our pots that we have from Vietnam," Romero explains. "Concrete pots are even stronger."

Where to get pots

Here are some other places that have large inventories of pottery:

• The Garden Center of Tucson, 2854 E. Grant Road, 795-4616

• Joel's Pottery, 6020 N. Oracle Road, 444-3200

• Mexican Garden Pottery, 2901 N. Oracle Road, 624-4772

• Pottery Blow Out, 3840 E. Grant Road, 325-6683, www.potteryblow out.com

• Tres Amigos Furniture & Accessories midtown location, 4443 E. Speedway, 547-3247

• Quality Pottery Etc., 8210 S. Nogales Highway, 294-2324, www.qualitypottery.net

DETAILS

Glazed Expressions Pottery

• 2618 E. Fort Lowell Road, 881-6543, www.glazed expressionspottery.com

• Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays.

Contact freelance writer Elena Acoba at acoba@dakotacom.net