NIGEL SLATER'S STUDIO POTTERY & RECOMMENDED POTTERS in the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/sep/24/all-fired-up-nigel-slater-on-the-pottery-stars-changing-the-world-of-ceramics

Interesting Guardian piece on Nigel Slater's studio pottery ceramics. All Fired up and bios of some potters including Akiko Hirai and Lisa Hammond.

I used to watch some of his cookery programmes and even have a cookery book or two of his. When watching him cook, it was always "guess who made the bowl or plate" in my mind.

I did notice that Anne Mette's latest Goldmark exhibition was advertised with a quote from Nigel Slater and so an article at this point about his liking of studio pottery seems appropriate.

Like all of us he does have his "lapses" - of the nine potters that he admires, I did give two of them their first exhibitions in my gallery and that could have been three. However, when I went to see the work of the third with that intention, I thought it so embarrassingly bad that I walked out without speaking to her.  

Good selection of potters. He mostly seems to like the 'quiet' ones so he can admire the food ontop of the plate :)

Sometimes potters are talked up in the press and Social Media but when you get to feel their work at the fairs it's a big let down. I've had awkward encounters with potters I've been following on Facebook and instagram, and added to my wants list, and arrived enthusiastically at their stands, picked up a pot or two, and then had to feign interest as they chatted away and I'm wondering how quickly I can move on to the next stand. But they obviously appeal to other collectors so my opinion of their work is unimportant. I did however hear at one fair this year that some potters had had no sales at all, but that's probably down to the cost of living crisis rather than the quality of the work.

NaomiM wrote:Sometimes potters are talked up in the press and Social Media but when you get to feel their work at the fairs it's a big let down. I've had awkward encounters with potters I've been following on Facebook and instagram, and added to my wants list, and arrived enthusiastically at their stands, picked up a pot or two, and then had to feign interest as they chatted away and I'm wondering how quickly I can move on to the next stand. But they obviously appeal to other collectors so my opinion of their work is unimportant. I did however hear at one fair this year that some potters had had no sales at all, but that's probably down to the cost of living crisis rather than the quality of the work.

I find that the younger/newer collectors have been steered towards plain functional pottery for use. These are often chosen by the "influencers", who almost always know nothing about studio pottery, from an architectural/sculptural aspect. They might look good in a "design-led" interior or replace factory made mugs/bowls very well but have nothing to offer someone that has been collecting studio pottery/ceramics for a number of years.

Last autumn I had a show of wood-fired Japanese pots at Troy Town Art Pottery in Hoxton, East London because Aaron Angell, who runs the pottery, wanted to educate the new collectors that there was more to studio pottery than what they were aware of. It worked to a certain extent because I took 34 pots over there and only 4 remained at the end of the exhibition but I am not sure if in the long term it will prove to have worked or not. A number of the buyers had links with the London "Art World" and were happy to go to Hoxton but I know that most would never venture south of the river let alone to a Ceramics Fair.

Space is a major problem, especially when the average starting age for buying property has risen to 34. Plus cost of living costs. If an influencer can persuade someone to buy a studio plate, bowl or mug in place factory ware then you're half way to making a collector of them.