Join Anne Mette Hjortshøj for a masterclass in her studio on the island of Bornholm just off the Danish coast as she prepares press moulded square bottles. She finishes by throwing the neck of the bottle and describing how she will glaze and decorate using finished examples. ‘I spend most of my time in the studio working on my wheel, and I like the process, but sometimes it’s nice to get away and do something different. So I started making these press-moulded square bottles, in which you have a flat canvas that you can work on and that can show off the glazes. I see the materials in a different way when I see this canvas, when I see a picture more than I see a three-dimensional object.’
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In Conversation | Doug Fitch
A Zoom chat during the 2020 Covid pandemic. Slipware potter Doug Fitch reveals the story behind the moulds for his beautiful large platters. When Michael Cardew’s Wenford Pottery closed in 2004, some twenty years after his death, Doug Fitch went to visit the dilapidated premises. Looking round the dust-filled attic he stumbled upon a pile of moulds, ‘abandoned and covered in guano’. Purchased from the new owner and relocated to Fitch’s studio, these moulds have been recommissioned – and with magnificent results. The conversation is interspersed with footage of Doug moulding and decorating these dishes plus a look at a few of his ad hoc tools.