About Diana
I’m a potter, writer. artist and designer, nestled in a 200 year old home in southern Germany’s Black Forest.
My days are filled with endless creative activities, making custom tableware for restaurants and wineries, writing for my Substack publication, painting and taking long walks in the woods with my husband Michael. When we’re not here, we’re also at home in northern Italy, visiting friends, enjoying the wine, food and dolce far niente of Italian life.
I’m passionate about sharing my creativity with others to help them follow their most colourful and rich dreams.
As an American who’s lived throughout the USA, in Italy and Gemany, I’ve had many professional incarnations, including marketing executive, innkeeper, language trainer, potter, published writer, web designer. I’m at home in the pottery studio, developing websites, writing books, or designing new spaces, art and gardens. Life is a gift and is meant to be lived fully. So I tend to go for it if something sparks my interest!
Writing
After becoming a published author in 2012 with my debut novel True Vines, I took a long hiatus from writing. For almost 12 years, I found myself creating in so many ways that involved my heart, brain and time - restoring this old house and redefining my work as a ceramic artist were almost at the top of my list, but the priority was designing, creating and administrating a large online web shop for premium wines from Piemonte, Italy. During this time I also designed dozens of Squarespace sites for creative people.
It wasn’t until I discovered Substack that I decided to start writing again on a regular basis. The response has been wonderful - I’ve gained hundreds of subscribers in a few short months - and I am absolutely loving being here among such talented and generous writers, pouring my heart out about the subjects I love the most.
New York, Philadelphia, DC, LA, Hamburg, the Italian wine country — these are just a few of the places I’ve lived, absorbing the culture and zeitgeist with each experience. In Italy, Michael and I renovated an ruin from the 1700s into a five star bed and breakfast among the wine hills of Piemonte. It was a passion project with lots of up and downs. The amount of learning that took place was off the charts.
After we sold it, we moved to Southern Germany where we took on the restoration of an 1830 exposed timber house. We’ve renovated the barn of our listed home in the Black Forest to create an open kitchen and enoteca for our guests and Babarolo, our Italian wine business.
Ceramics
I came to pottery as an adult while living in Hamburg. At first the thought was to be able to try my hand at something tactile and creative. But these goals quickly grew and before long, I had my own studio and was producing for clients and exhibitions. I create durable, bespoke stoneware tableware for exclusive restaurants, wineries, and clients. Now into my 27th year of making pots, the work is as exciting as the day I started.
Gardening
Food and ceramics are so closely related. We’ve kept gardens for years, and over time, our gardens have become more natural, less weeded, more nutritionally dense and wilder. These vegetables and herbs are used in our supper club, where we combine foraged and gardened vegetables and fruits, local organic meats and fish, with wines from our wine company, Babarolo. For a private party in our beautiful food and wine room, contact me at dianabaur@gmail.com
Mixed Media Art
I’ve created mixed media art for over 25 years, with any materials I can find. Some of my best work happens if I remember not to take it or myself too seriously. I work on commissions and am going to sell prints here… watch this space!
