Vest Keramiek was esthblihed by  the brothers Marius and Hugo van Woerden.  Marius was born March 4, 1942, in Rijswijk. The Netherlands. Marius  was throwing pots on the potters wheel  His brother Hugo, born November 29, 1946, in Rijswijk, dealt with the business side and the glazing  and firing of the pottery.

Marius and Hugo’s interest in ceramics started from an early age onward, they spent a lot of time in the ceramic workshop of De Steenuil, which was across the road from their home at the Herenstraat- Rijswijk, Holland. After school, they ware always to be found in the workshop, helping the potter with all kind of chores. Marius, doing  military draft service in the town “t -Harde”, had a change during the free time in the evening  to take pottery lessons  from the well known Frans Slot from the town of “Epe”  provided  by the army as a hobby program. After the service Marius started  working at  other potteries, one of them P. Groeneveld.  In 1964 he started his own workshop in a rented shed at a greenhouse company in Monster a city not far from Rijswijk. His  brother Hugo assisted him with all kind of activities. After about a year, this was in 1965, they bought small building at a street called “Het Raam”  in Gouda. From there they continued with the pottery under the name Van Woerden Aardewerk. Hugo worked as a sales man and took care of the business side and developing glases. The pottery business was growing and around 1974  they moved to larger premises at the Vest, also in Gouda. The name Vest Keramiek was introduced. At the height of their activities they had about 40 employees. In 1984 they stopped working in Holland and the brothers emigrated to Canada, where they started a pottery in the town of  Norwich-Ontario, under the name Castle Ceramics. This company was in production until 1994. Marius is still living in Canada, Hugo is back in Holland again.  Marius still does some pottery at  his friend’s pottery Donn Zver’s Pottery. With hindsight they regret never having signed directly on the products, but only using a company sticker. "