FAST FIRES AT OXFORD KILNS

This summer, a group of us from both sister studios – Culford Studios and The Farnham Pottery – packed up our bisque pots and headed to the woods outside Oxford for a weekend of wood, flame, and clay.

We were guided by Dr. Robin Wilson, founder of Oxford Kilns, and ceramic artist and researcher Ekta Bagri, who begins her doctorate in archaeology this September. It was a rare chance for members of both studios to meet, work together, and share a collective passion for ceramics.

We arrived on Friday morning and got straight to work. Robin explained the firing process while everyone glazed their pots – enough to fill all three fast-fire kilns on site. Meanwhile, wood chopping began, we had to ensure we had plenty of kindling and fuel for the hours ahead. Oxford kilns are very keen on trying to make the firing process as sustainable as possible - so pretty much all of the wood we were using was from old pallets. Alex kept us well fed and watered, and by the evening the kilns were stacked, burgers were on the grill, and people were ready for an early night before the long day to come.

We rose early on Saturday, the kilns were lit and the real work began. Each team was responsible for its own kiln, stoking steadily throughout the day to push the temperature up towards 1260°C. The firing demanded focus: positioning the wood so that flames moved evenly through the chambers, keeping the heat steady once peak temperature was reached, and responding to each kiln’s distinct character.The stoking was both demanding very hot and absorbing – hours passed quickly as the fire dictated its pace.

By the evening we were tired but content, and everyone had a much needed hot shower/ relax on site as the and kilns began their cooling process. We then drove down the rode to a lovely local pub on the water for a hot meal. 

The real anticipation came with the kiln opening. Each piece carried its own story, flashing, ash deposits, and marks left by the firing atmosphere. Discussing the results with Robin and Ekta helped us understand what had happened inside the kiln: reduction at certain moments, deposits where the ash had settled, and the subtle differences between each chamber. The surfaces were full of character, impossible to replicate in an electric kiln. These pots will be cherished! 

We loved this weekend so much and want to say a huge thank you to oxford kilns for having us, and to all those who participated and brought such good energy! We are already excited for next year and are pleased to share that we’ll be returning to Oxford Kilns in July 2026 for a full Anagama firing with Robin and Ekta, as well as two more fast-fires.

SUPPORT OXFORD KILNS!

CROWDFUNDING TO REBUILD THE ANAGAMA

A few words from Robin Wilson, leader of Oxford University kilns : 

"Hello all, 

The Anagama Test Kiln at Oxford is reaching the end of its life. After nearly 80 firings, the back wall, tunnel, chimney and seams are now collapsing beyond repair.

Replacing it is essential if we want to keep the site as experimental, flexible, and affordable for everyone as it is. A new kiln would be more robust, more efficient, and better suited to how we actually fire now—supporting mixed styles, lowering wood use, and responding to what the site’s become: a shared, living, evolving place.

The kilns all perform different functions and create different kinds of results, using different woods, timescales and everything. The test kiln is the workhorse that does the ashy, gnarly Anagama work. It’s the most fired by far. That’s why it’s falling down.I don’t love asking for money. But if you’ve gained something from the Kilns, and you’re in a position to help, we’ve set up a JustGiving page here:

  🔗 https://shorturl.at/kwUuH

If you can give £20, £50, or more, it really helps. Every contribution goes directly to materials, labour, and keeping the whole place firing. There’ll be small rewards and thanks for donors—and I’m also planning a kiln-building course with Claude in September.

If you know anyone who you think might be able to help, do pass this on to them, even just sharing the link helps a lot.

Thanks so much.

Robin"

To support to the project, visit Oxford Kilns "Just Giving" page, donate and spread the words!

GUEST ARTIST: ARJAN VAN DAL

It was such a delight to welcome ceramic artist Arjan Van Dal at Culford Studios on June 12th for a talk with our members and a hands-on workshop on June 14th 2025.

Arjan van Dal is a Dutch potter based in London, working primarily in porcelain. His work finds itself at the crossroads of craft, art and design.  Colour and form are the celebrated elements in Arjan’s work. The white porcelain is his canvas that is pigmented and shaped, mainly on the potter’s wheel. His work plays with the idea of the manufactured though formed with his own hands. Subtle details uncover the handmade nature where colour and form create playfulness with a delicate touch. The final pieces are polished intensively for a highly tactile experience and to increase the perception of the colour depth embedded in the material. 

During his talk, Arjan shared his personal journey to clay, starting from his origins in the Dutch countryside where he first learned pottery in a monastery at 18 years old. He then pursued an education in engineering and philosophy, and initially worked in (inter-)governmental organisations, amongst others within UNESCO. He quickly realised that during meetings in conference rooms he was daydreaming about working with his hands and making tangible things - so he soon made a radical decision to change career. Arjan moved to London, became assistant to the ceramicist Hitomi Hosono and started his studio in 2015. Since then he has exhibited amongst others at the Venice Design Biennial 2023, London Design Festival 2019 and the International Craft Week in China, and you can find his work in selected UK galleries. In the last 10 years, challenges and opportunities came along the way. Arjan was selected as one of the new maker for the Hothouse programme from the Craft Council. This is an initiative that unfortunately no longer exists, but that used to provide business and creative development support to emerging craft makers through a six-month program which included workshops, mentoring, and networking opportunities. Later on, a global pandemic hit and Arjan had to stop his assistant role with Hitomi Hosono. He dedicated this period of time to focusing on his practice and building a body of work. One of his project was about making 365 different forms in a year thrown on the wheel from 365g of coloured porcelain. 

Today, Arjan describes his practice as a craft based approach, intended to be able to create and work with his hands. There is also a design aspect to it, where Arjan conceptualises and thinks of details. Porcelain is his defining material, and colour his joy. His inspirations come from the Bauhaus, the Modernist movement, contemporary design as well as colour theories. Artists Arjan admires includes Josef Hartwig, particularly his minimalist wooden chess set from the 1920s, italian designers Ettore sottsass and Enzo Mari, Duch industrial designer Hella Jongerius, as well as Dutch author and illustrator Dick Bruna, known for the creation of children’s books and Miffy, a small rabbit drawn with heavy graphic lines, simple shapes and primary colours.

The small and informal set up of our talks allows for open conversation between our members and our guest. Arjan shared some of his personal insights about working in the ceramic industry and how he personally splits his activity between galleries, direct sales, commissions, teaching and design collaborations. He also gave us some observations and “tips” for new emerging makers. The takeaway we will remember is to find your voice and play! Always keep the joy in your work - which is something Arjan has been wonderfully successful at in his own practice!

On the following Saturday, we also hosted a specialist workshop, where Arjan guided us through his approach to throwing with coloured porcelain. We started by creating stained clay and batches of coloured porcelains. We learned about stains, where to get them, how to use them, and how to develop our own palette of colours from the primary tones. The workshop then continued on the potter's wheel, where Arjan did a couple of demo, effortlessly making some beautiful curvy shapes. It was incredibly helpful to hear his tips and tricks on how to navigate this unique material! We all had a go at throwing a few small and playful geometric forms. The studio was filled with sunlight and our hands covered with pastel-coloured clay - it was a very joyful morning.

If you would like to know more about Arjan Van Dal work and upcoming events:

https://www.arjanvandal.com/

https://www.instagram.com/arjanvandal_ceramics/

GUEST ARTIST: JO PEARL

In April 2025 we had the pleasure to host a talk with multi-disciplinary artist Jo Pearl! Jo walked us through her unique career path and how she came about to work with clay and stop motion to create work that is both playful and politically engaged.

Like many of us, and many of guest speakers, Jo had an initial career before discovering clay. She worked in PR for many years before going back to university to study Ceramic Desgin at Central Saint Martins and launch her hybrid practice combining clay and stop-frame animations. Since graduating in 2019, Jo has developed various income strands from portrait and exhibition commissions, clay public engagement workshops to open up conversations in the public domain using clay, to ‘clayscribing’ – a new genre of visual annotation of business meetings, live-sculpted in raw clay. Jo’s work has been shown internationally, and in various UK campaigning exhibitions at London City Hall, Norwich Cathedral, a solo show in the home of Charles Darwin and On Air, a group show about air pollution which she co-curated for Ceramic Art London 2022. Her stop motion films have won several awards including the People’s Vote for the Best Short Film at the 2023 International Ceramics Festival in Aberystwyth, and shortlisted for Earthphoto 2024, exhibiting at the Royal Geographical Society. 

This year, her sculptural work was on display in Somerset House’s landmark exhibition SOIL: The World at Our Feet. The exhibition featured the work of 40 artists, and communicated through films, objects, research projects and other installations, the importance of soil, its unbreakable bond with life and its vital role it plays in our planet’s future.  Jo’s “Unearthed Mycelium” piece was featured on the poster. This sculpted ceramic frieze, represents a slice through topsoil revealing plants and fungi above ground and their connected roots and mycelium strands below – an entanglement of life, symbiotically conjoined. Jo had also created “Oddkin”, her largest ceramic installation to date. It celebrates the microscopic companion species hidden in soil’s biome beneath our feet! Afterall, a cup of healthy soil contains around 200 billion bacteria, 20 million protozoa, 100,000 nematodes, 100,000 meters of fungi and probably one earthworm. “Oddkin” appeared like a constellation of dancing micro-organisms. It is intended to enchant, to encourage viewers to fall in love with the beings that live in soil, to recognise that they are our odd kin. As Jo says: “Soil has a PR problem. We can’t cherish what we don’t know. So if we are to save our soil we must take a much closer look at what is often dismissed as ‘dirt’ and realise that our lives depend on its aliveness.”

Jo describes her practice as a celebration of the materiality of clay and its diverse states of being. She brings clay to life by sculpting the material, photographing each iteration of constantly evolving form, and sometimes firing the final state. As a result, she not only creates a sculpture that embodies all of the process, but also creates all the shots needed to weave a narrative into a stop-motion film. With this approach, Jo produces two works of art - the ceramic and the film - simultaneously while consciously minimising material use and kiln firings. The use of film also allows her to transcend the stillness of ceramics and magically bring life to her piece. By combining claymation and ceramics Jo can explore notions of the fleeting and the timeless, agency and alchemy. 

Jo’s work is also politically engaged, concerned with existential problems facing humanity: air pollution’s impact on health, modern slavery, emotional illiteracy in a digital world, the biodiversity of healthy soil. These themes have always been important to Jo, even prior to starting her clay/stopmotion practice. When she first started to bring notion of air pollution or climate crisis into her work, she explained that the initial reactions from viewers were somehow a bit sad or disengaged… She then made a conscious decision to create work that is approachable and playful, while not shying away from the important issues that we are currently facing. Her work is both sensitive and playful. There’s humour, provocation - and above all, delight!

Learn more about her work and stay informed with upcoming events:

https://jopearl.com/

https://www.instagram.com/jopearlceramics/