Life, Clay and Everything
Ballet dancer. Front man in an almost famous band. Judge on The Great Pottery Throwdown. How did all that happen?
By accident mostly. But I always say we make our own luck. What if an art teacher hadn’t given me a lump of clay? What if the band had been really successful? What if I hadn’t taken a photograph of a bowl to the buyer at Heals in London? What if she’d hated it? Or hadn’t seen it… What if I hadn’t agreed to dress up as Adele to make a crazy YouTube video?
Every chapter of my book is based around an object (usually a pot) that’s been significant in my life. It’s just a trigger to let me go off in a lot of different directions and tell a few stories. A lot of stories. Dyslexia. The art teacher who changed my life. My Mother. My Father. A life-changing job interview with a man who lay under his car throughout. That video.
Sifting through half-forgotten memories, trying to pick out the golden nuggets from the stuff that is definitely dross has been a curious, and at times hilarious, sometimes sad, but defi nitely enlightening process. So here it is – my pottery life with some very loud music and some pretty good dancing. And a lot of throwing, fettling and firing. Oh… and a good dose of anxiety.
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