The art of watering, beautifully.
A ceramic object, crafted in Portugal, that waters your plants all by itself, for days on end. The wisdom of an age-old gesture, with By Charlot design.
What is an oya?
The garden's most ingenious invention is 4,000 years old. Long before timers and clay pebbles, gardeners in North Africa and Asia buried terracotta jars filled with water near their crops.
The naturally porous clay let the water seep out slowly, exactly where the roots go looking for it. They're called ollas, or oyas. Four thousand years on, nobody's found a better way. All we did was design them.
How it works
Plant. Fill. That's it.
1- Bury your oya in the pot or planter, neck exposed.
2- Fill it with water. The microporous ceramic diffuses it by capillary action, gently and continuously.
3- The plant does the rest. Its roots draw up exactly what they need, when they need it. Not too much, not too little: the plant decides, not you.
When the oya is empty, simply fill it up again. Depending on the size of the pot, the plant and the season, expect anywhere from several days to a week of peace of mind.
What it changes (everything)
- Less risk of overwatering. Water seeps slowly through the porous ceramic, straight to the roots, instead of arriving all at once.
- Go away with peace of mind. Long weekend, holidays: your plants water themselves without you.
- Water that reaches the roots. It spreads underground, right where the roots need it, instead of running off the surface.
- Stronger roots. Water diffused deep down draws roots downward and makes your plants more resilient.
- Zero electricity, zero plastic, zero breakdowns. Just ceramic, water and gravity. That's it, and it's for life.
Ours
There's no reason for the useful to be ugly.
Ollas have travelled forty centuries hidden underground. We designed ours so that it deserves to be seen: a silhouette signed By Charlot, handcrafted in Portugal by a workshop of ceramicists, in a ceramic chosen for its precise porosity. Placed in a pot, its neck becomes a decorative detail in its own right.
Care
It asks (almost) nothing of you.
Fill it up when it's empty, rinse it out from time to time to preserve the porosity of the ceramic. Outdoors, bring it in before the hard frosts. That's it.
