Anna Thomas heads to Te Toi Uku Crown Lynn and Clay Museum in West Auckland, where curator and director Louise Stevenson has just reopened the site's 100-year-old kiln, the last surviving structure from the brickmaking era in Auckland. The museum tells the story of four decades of Crown Lynn ceramics including 2,700 patterns, 15 million items a year at peak production, exported around the world, and what Louise describes as 14 pairs of hands involved in making every single cup. Anna also visits the newly restored kiln, now home to an installation by ceramic artist John Parker.