Arwyn Jones Ceramics - "Making pots is a life-long journey"

My Story

Just as a chef strives to create a perfect dish, I strive to create a perfect pot: balanced, simple, functional. Making pots is a life-long journey, and I am continually refining and honing my skills through practice and repetition. The pursuit of my goal is an unending one, and one that I relish, as I know I am fortunate to be doing what I love every day.

It is a pleasure being able to eat the food I love cooking from the pots I love making. My wish is that this pleasure is shared when my pots are used in their new homes.

From my early days at Loughborough College of Art and Design, where I began to find my direction and a natural affinity with clay, throwing has always been my preferred method of making pots.

I have discovered that for me, working with clay is a contradiction between being intuitive and being deliberate. I am continually asking myself, ‘Does the form tell me what it wants to do?’ Does the handle say ‘Pick me up!’? Does the spout say ‘Pour me!’?

Making pots isn’t a job, it’s a way of life, an obsession, a devotion.

Matisse is reported to have once said ‘Never a day without a line’ ... for me there is ‘never a day without clay.’

Processing and preparation are key. I plan and visualise my work mentally before I begin, usually while I weigh then wedge my clay and prepare to throw. The act of preparing the clay imparts the space for an idea to evolve; the act of throwing a pot allows for its materialisation.

The Bauhaus/Corbusier mantra of ‘form follows function’ drives the

development of my work and informs its simplicity and purpose.

How it's Made

From start to finish

My work is thrown on the potter’s wheel. I use a smooth, white stoneware clay from Valentine’s, in Stoke-on-Trent. After the pots have dried, they are biscuit fired to 980°C. The pieces are then dipped in glazes that I have developed or modified to fit the requirements of my work. The pots are fired for a final time to 1280°C in either oxidation or reduction. Each firing takes between 10 to 15 hours to complete and a further 24 to 36 hours before the kiln is cool enough to be opened.

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A lifetime of looking

My love of food has always been at the heart of my work. My hope is to make pieces that contribute to the rituals and pleasures of preparing and enjoying food either on your own or with friends and family. Influences ranging from the country pottery traditions of Western Europe, the rich glaze traditions of North East Asia to modern and Gothic architecture and the ever inspiring beauty of nature have informed my ideas and shaped the finished pieces.

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