Gnarly Dudes

Gnarly Dudes are a collective of five potters: Svend Bayer, Charles Bound, Nic Collins, Jon Fellows and Chuck Schwartz, who first staged an exhibition of their English anagama-style wood-fired work on Dartmoor, Devon, in 1997. Since then, the phrase Gnarly Dudes has come to be used to describe not just the potters, but also as a reference to the style of 'gnarly' pottery that they make. This is a style that I didn't really understand until I moved to the West Country, and began to learn about the traditions of country pottery, and the techniques used in different types of firing. Now though, these are the very pots that inspire me most, and this type of work feels very connected to the area in which I now live. A couple of weeks ago the Gnarly Dudes got together again and held Gnarly Dudes Revisited - a new exhibition of fresh work, made especially for the event. The show celebrated the way each of the men's work has progressed over the past eighteen years (Jon Fellows now works with wood, for instance), and how they all still choose to use techniques and processes that lend themselves to creating extremely rugged and honest pieces. For firing pottery, the Gnarly Dudes favour anagama-style wood-fired kilns, which are based on the medieval Japanese kilns used mostly at Bizen and Shigaraki. The kiln is usually a tunnel and the heat is drawn over the stacked pots, allowing smoke, ash and embers to freely come into contact with them. The pots are minimally decorated before firing, instead letting the smoke, ash and embers interact with the clay to produce beautiful, natural gradations of colour and finish. Placement of the pots in the kiln is critical, as is the selection of wood and clay. At the event I was struck not just by the beautiful and rambling nature of Nic Collins' Barn Pottery, where the exhibition was held, but also by the majestic nature of the pots. They all have highly tactile surfaces that beg to be touched and many different natural colours and patterns pooling on the surface or in the glaze. Pots were displayed indoors and out, and there was also an abundance of pots just strewn about, waiting to be sorted or sold. It was a quiet reminder of just how much practice is required to become adept at this art. Several weeks after seeing this exhibition, I'm still thinking about the work that I saw there a lot. That is probably the mark of a great exhibition, one that continues to influence you, long after you have left it behind. I hope that in some way wood-firing will play a part in my future, and who knows, I might even become just that little bit more gnarly.

Gnarly Dudes Revisited took place at The Barn Pottery, Moretonhampstead on 18th-19th April 2015.

Akiko Hirai

I love the beautiful contrasts in Akiko Hirai's Kohiki ware, it looks strong yet delicate and I was fascinated to learn that it is inspired by face powder. Two worlds collide - make-up and ceramics - I hadn't thought about glaze like that before. Trust me, Akiko's combination of white on black clay is difficult to pull off. It's a look that I've been trying to emulate recently and I've been far off the mark! Perhaps I can pass it off as adolescent experimentation? Akiko's work is available is several great shops and galleries, including The Cold Store, Maud & Mabel, and Mint, and I am delighted that she agreed to be next-up in my series of Q&A's with inspirational makers.

Tell us a little about what you make? I make tableware and large decorative jars that are inspired by antique storage jars. What materials do you use and why? I use coarse stoneware clay. I like the texture and feel of it. I also mix in very coarse grog which appears on the surface of the pots when thrown thinly. What techniques do you use and why? I use white slip on a dark body. It is called Kohiki ware. The direct translation from Japanese is ‘powder blown ware’, the metaphor of women wearing white powder make-up. It has the beauty of ‘whiteness’ but is less harsh than sharp cold white porcelain. That was my intial inspiration and I tested a few materials to create suitable ‘slips’ and then developed it in my own way. I also often use wood ash for the subtle colours and tones on the surface of my pots. How do you fire your work? Most of the pots are fired in my gas kiln for reduction firing to give a feeling of movement on the surface. What/who inspires you to make your work? Mostly antique pots. Some are wood fired and have lots of marks of ‘accidents’. I am also inspired by novels and poems. I like the idea of ‘reading between lines.’ I have been trying to apply this to my pots. How/where do you sell your pieces? Various galleries mostly in the UK, and a few retailers abroad. Please recommend a good book? Linda Bloomfield wrote several good glaze books. These are very practical and contain lots of useful information. I always recommend them to my students. Also, Besstatsu - Taiyo, a Japanese magazine. It no longer published but you can obtain back copies. The editor's selections are excellent and each issue features topics that are very interesting. It also contains many good photos so even you do not understand the Japanese language, you can enjoy looking at these. What are your plans/ideas for the future? I have signed up for the Elle decoration online shop. I have not produced enough work for it yet, but plan to be up and running on there in the near future. I also have solo shows at the New Ashgate Gallery, Oxford Ceramic Gallery, and Slader’s Yard up until March. Each gallery will have something unique and details are on my website. Will you be running any workshops this year? I am doing 3 days masterclass at the beginning of August at Maze Hill Pottery in Greenwich this summer. I am also teaching ceramics at Kensington and Chelsea College. I teach BTEC level 2 and 3 depending on the level of people starting from September. For enquiries or to be added to the waiting list, please email a.hirai@kcc.ac.uk

Thank you Akiko!

Work in Progress

I'm so used to writing about other people's work, that putting pictures of my own things alongside them seems weird. However, since I wrote a post about my clay samples, I feel I should show what I've done with them. I've been experimenting with a few bowl, plate and cup shapes, and it's been good to try out the different clays and see how they respond to glazes and firing. There have been some disasters and a couple of nice surprises, but I'm yet to settle on anything that I'm sure about. In the meantime, it's just fun to play around. I started learning to throw a little over five years ago now, which sounds like quite a long time but realistically I haven't spent nearly as much time at the wheel as I would like. Pottery classes and opportunities have been squeezed around work and looking after babies and toddlers, so my progress has been slow. Finally though, I have my own workshop set up and it feels like it's all beginning to come together. These are a few of the first things to come out of the kiln. Hopefully, I'll be making a lot more in the months to come.

p.s. To see more, follow my Instagram feed. It's pretty much just pots on there these days.

Pia Wüstenberg

Pia Wüstenberg is well known for her mixed-material Stacking Vessels, combining blown glass, ceramic, turned wood and metal. They come in lots of different variations, all with wonderful bloated forms and are a brilliant exercise in mixing different craft skills. Pia recently introduced a new evolution of the Stacking Vessel called Branch Bowls, which pairs a hand-blown glass bowl with a lid formed from a tree branch. There is a great video filmed by James Maiki called A Tale of Two Halves which gives a glimpse into how they are made.  The film shows the mesmerising process of the two separate pieces being made and fitted together and highlights the craftsmanship that goes into making the work. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the video, although I confess that I love glass blowing and could happily watch it all day. I interviewed Pia for a book project recently and thought I would include some extracts from the interview here. We were discussing her work and inspirations...

How did you get involved in design? I studied a Foundation in Glass, Metal and Ceramic Design at SIAD in Farnham and a BA in Furniture Design and Craftsmanship at Bucks New University. I chose Furniture Design as I believe it is a versatile product requiring the most technical and material knowledge. Later I studied in London on the MA Design Products course at the Royal College of Arts. I set up my own studio following graduation. How would you describe your style? It is all about contrast. Everything I do is mixed-media, and the process and materiality of each media supports the other. All my work is handmade. I use traditional craft skills and traditional raw materials, such as wood, ceramic, glass and paper. The resulting objects contain the stories of their making and the traces of the materials origin. This makes them objects of desire. What materials and techniques do you use? I work with very raw and pure materials such as glass, ceramic, copper, wood and paper. These are processed using traditional craft techniques. Are there any particular designer/artists/things that inspire you? I really respect the work and philosophy of Kaj Franck and Jurgen Bey. I get inspiration from many things I see, it just depends on the mind frame I am in. What are you working on at the moment and what do you hope to work on in the future? At the moment, I am working on a collection of glass jewellery to hold scent. In the future, I hope to work more with glass, to challenge its application and the ways in which we normally find it used. Have you noticed any particular trends in design lately? I have noticed my friends investing in objects for life, rather than going for cheap, quick solutions. What materials or techniques do you think we'll be seeing more of in the future? I believe there will be a return to pure materials and traditional skills. Mainly because I think we want fewer things, and for the things we do want , we have to be considered and durable. What is your favourite piece of design by another designer? The sewing needle, paperclip, can opener, fork and scissors. There are so many simple, clever things that do not have a shining name or famous designer behind them, and they are the most durable designs that we live with. These are the designs that move something in me, that challenge me to think, innovate and feel desire for objects.

Thank you Pia! www.utopiaandutility.eu

Clay Hunting

The scenic landscape here in North Cornwall is wild, rugged and untamed. Dig beneath the surface and you'll also find that it contains rich seams of natural materials; tin, granite, sandstone, slate and clay, each one as useful as they are beautiful. All good cooks know that a dish is only as good as the ingredients used, and the same goes for woodwork, sewing, weaving and almost any other making activity. It's certainly true of pottery, which is what led me to visit this working clay quarry nearby. Situated on the seaward side of a granite uprising, the quarry is home to two unique raw materials, one a high quality silica sand and the other a much revered clay deposit favoured by many world renowned potters. It was great to be able to visit this small family owned business in person. The backdrop of the wild Atlantic coast and fields full of brassicas made for a beautiful setting, where I saw clay being prepared using simple methods, with materials dug directly from the pits. The clay available varies in shade from milky white through buff, to toasty brown and coal black. Naturally I picked up a few samples, and now begins the journey of transforming it from muddy earth into strong and functional pots.

Studio Visit: Nicola Tassie

In December I visited the studio of one of my favourite ceramicists, Nicola Tassie. You may recognise her work from Margaret Howell or The New Craftsmen. Each pot is slightly different but all display a defiantly strong form and experimental use of clay and colour. I am in awe of Tassie's experimentation with clay. In fact, every morning I drink my coffee out of one of her cups, and each day I think how incredibly beautiful it is. For me, that simple, faceted clay mug symbolises everything that I love about design; it's accessible, well-crafted, well-designed, and my life is enriched by using it.

How did you start making ceramics? I actually studied painting at college (the Central School of Art), but was curious about clay, perhaps through choosing early rock art for my thesis subject. A friend and I visited the ceramics department and asked if we could have a go at throwing, the technician gave us some crank, told us to hold on firmly, and left us to it. After a short while our hands were bleeding and we wondered at the toughness of potters! Cross department interest was not encouraged at Central! It obviously didn’t put me off though, and a few years later, after graduating I joined an evening class at my local adult education institute and have not stopped since. What made you choose to concentrate on tableware? My first interest in making ceramics was in the surface - drawing imagery with brushes and sgraffito marks, as a way of extending my life drawing practice - and so I learnt to throw as a means to make pots quickly and small bowls and cups and jugs were about all I was capable of at the beginning! Then the form of the pot started to influence the imagery, and the simple variations of how a bulging or convex wall of a cup or bowl effect the surface design has become a main preoccupation. The function of the pot - picking it up and using it – also gives an added tactile dimension to explore. I think it’s interesting to make small scale domestic works that fit into homes, and become part of everyday living as well as carrying a specific meaning or history. Do you look to any other potters/artists for inspiration? Definitely, all the time. I love looking at pots, paintings and objects. The ceramics department at the V&A is a wonder. I love English slipware, German salt glaze jars, Lucie Rie, Miro’s ceramics, Marianne de Tray and more. I’ve just seen the Paul Klee exhibition at Tate Modern – wonderful, contained paintings - he is so inventive with the surfaces and colours, it’s given me some thoughts about glazing. It’s also interesting to see the new work contemporary artists, like Jessica Jackson Hutchens, are making with ceramics and clay. Your forms are very simple and beautiful. How do you develop new shapes? I feel I’m rather slow at making new shapes. There is a continuity in making, with each form following on from the other, the process often leading to a new idea. For instance, out of curiosity, I was throwing with some heavily grogged clay and finding it hard to work with for too long or to get it thin enough, so that the finished jug was rather too heavy for use. I decided to shave some of the clay off from the outside and ended up with a lighter, ‘faceted’ jug and new shape! I’m definitely more of a vessel maker than a bowl maker and prefer subtle curves and close handles. You've recently started making lighting - tell us a little about that? In Paris I saw an exhibition of French 1950/60’s potter George Jouve. I was impressed with his expansive range of ceramics, he made tabletops, stools, sculptures, wall finishes and lamps. It’s an opportunity to work on a larger scale, building form with simple geometric shapes-cones, cylinders and spheres. They are thrown in different parts and joined together, or else I add coils to a thrown base and pull up, taking time to let it dry off a bit before continuing with another coil until they look finished. At the moment I’m glazing them very simply in either matt black or white, as there is enough play with the shadows across the form when the light is switched on. What different clays and glazes do you use? I make ranges with different types of clay, at the moment I’m using a light buff stoneware, a black stoneware, a beautifully smooth mid-range Keuper Red and Limoges porcelain. I also add different grades of grog to get different surface effects. I keep a lot of glazes in the studio, either made from recipes (they always turn out different from the description!) or ready-made powders from the pottery suppliers. I have phases of working with particular ones, but a lot of my current porcelain work is left raw on the outside and glazed with a glossy transparent on the inside. Where do you sell and exhibit?The Wills Lane Gallery in St Ives, Contemporary Ceramics in London, Maud and Mabel in Hampstead, London, Gallery Top, Matlock, Derbyshire, The New Craftsmen and Margaret Howell shops in London , Paris and Tokyo. At the moment, I also am in an exhibition: Mud and Water, at the Rokeby Gallery, until 6th March 2014.

Thank you Nicola!

Chimney Pots

A nice clay chimney pot can be a beautiful thing so I was pleased to discover these new ones by Studio Wieki Somers. The pots are the crowning glory on a new housing development in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands and in keeping with the architect’s reinterpretation of English Tudor style, the designers have created a range of chimney pots, all enhancing the identity of the new neighbourhood.

The inspiration came from the tall, richly decorated chimney pots characteristic of traditional English Tudor architecture, echoed in the way that farmers stacked peat around the Haarlemmermeer lake in the sixteenth century. The studio developed a modular system by stacking several elements in various combinations to produce different compositions. It is a kind of Lego with infinite possibilities. The details of the chimneys are actually made from polyester concrete instead of clay and this contemporary and durable material allows sections to be ground open, revealing the underlying structure. At the housing development, each of the residents can choose their own chimney pot from a family of five different designs, offering them a unique way of personalising their home.