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Ceramicist / Potter
Creates functional and artistic objects from clay — bowls, sculptures, tiles.
Did you know?
China's Terracotta Army has more than 8,000 clay soldiers, and no two are thought to have exactly the same face.
How subjects help
- Art & Design: Throw and shape clay on a wheel into bowls and vases with pleasing forms.
- Chemistry: Mix glazes that melt into glassy colours when they are heated in the kiln.
- Physics: Control how fast a kiln heats and cools so pots don't crack as they shrink.
- History: Study ancient pottery methods and patterns and use them in new pieces.
A famous name
Bernard Leach: British potter who set up the Leach Pottery in St Ives in 1920 and blended Japanese and English styles.
Try it yourself: Test a tile pattern that fits together
- Fold your paper in half three times, then unfold it. The creases make eight equal boxes.
- In the first box, draw two simple shapes that fit together with no gaps, like a zigzag strip and its opposite.
- Draw the same two shapes in every box, so each one meets the shapes next door.
- Colour one shape in each colour, then look at the whole sheet. Are there gaps or edges that don't line up? Fix them in your next go.
Tile makers, mosaicists and printmakers test a repeating design on paper first, because once the tiles are fired or the printing block is carved, mistakes are hard to fix.
Adapted from V&A: Design and make your own Islamic tile and printed pattern.
Also try: Hunt for textures and make a rubbing picture.
Known for it in
Japan, UK, USA, Italy, South Korea