My name is Callum Forbes and I am a potter currently living in Stoke-on-Trent. I started keeping this blog because my notes are spread across multiple books and although my glaze research is well recorded I am yet to bring it all together in one fixed place. The main focus of my research at the moment revolves around clay bodies for soda firing and cone 10 electric kiln ceramics. The blog is not in any sort of chronological order, but I am planning on grouping things thematically, and so some research outside of those two things is going to crop up from time to time. I must also say at this point that I am writing from my own experiences and reading and am sure others may have different takes on some of the subjects I am writing about. Please do write comments and I am hopping this can be a space to develop a dialogue and to be corrected if I am wrong(!)
I am interested in the social role objects play, especially objects designed for use: for me, their beauty is directly linked to the purpose given to them by those who come to have them in their lives. This is what drove me to make objects for this object saturated world. In a world designed to dehumanise, to reduce relationships to exchange, individuals to consumers, the handmade and desire to make is one last bastion of creative identity of which we have control. If my pots are enjoyed alone or with loved ones, if they play some role, however minor, in someone’s life then I am very happy.
I wrote that artists statement in October 2023 when we were working towards an exhibition at the wonderful artist led Airspace gallery in Stoke on Trent. It feels slightly weird reading it now but there is something of what I am about in it.
Alongside potting I have worked as an editor for a number of pottery books including By my Hands by Florian Gadsby, Circular Ceramics by Sara Howard and the forthcoming book on Sustainable Ceramics by Kevin Milward. Please contact me if you are working on a book and feel you would like a potters’ opinion on what you have written.
I am the co founder of Slip House with Camille Biddel
I am the manager of Clay College Stoke
Callum Forbes 