27.03.08 - The Result

The wait to hear the result of the RSA competition is over. I receive a phone call at my brother's house in Austria to say that the letter had arrived at Ray & Jeannette's house in London. Before I came home for Easter I had asked them to open it and let me know.
It's good news, The Wedgwoodn't Tureen has won a cash award to be used to further my career. I plan to use it to continue working with the eco-ceramic materials and to start investigating whether they can be used on a biodegradable substrate. The winners are also awarded Fellowship of the RSA.
I'm pleased that all the hard work has paid off and very grateful to everyone that has assisted and encouraged me. Alastair in RapidformRCA is definitely owed a pint or two!

After returning from Austria on Sunday, I have been concentrating on writing the thesis. This stage is fairly straightforward, recording the practical work, but it sets off thoughts of what will be discussed in the evaluation section. That is likely to be a time-consuming section, as everything has to come together in a well reasoned and well supported way. Steve has lent me a book that will have an influence on that section. It's called 'Thinking Through Craft' by Glenn Adamson, his supervisor from the V&A. It was published to coincide with the V&A/Crafts Council 'Out of the Ordinary' exhibition that was shown over the winter. I've only just started reading it, so need to spend more time reading and digesting it before discussing it's contents in relation to my work.

14.03.08 - The Wedgwoodn’t [continued]

After teaching in Carlisle on Monday I caught the evening train down to London. I had to be at the RSA for the Design Directions Ceramic Futures competition at 10 am the following morning so couldn’t catch my usual train.
The interview, at the smart RSA building just off the Strand, went well. The panel of judges, which included Martin Hunt were genuinely enthusiastic about the project, but at this stage I don’t know the results. We were told that we would receive notification before Easter, so I have up to a week or so to wait. I really don’t know how I have faired; I think the Wedgwoodn’t project fits into the RSA criteria very well, it’s about innovation after all, I’ll just have to wait and see.

After returning to College I continued with the practical work, throwing, casting, turning and firing the kiln a couple of times.

On Thursday I went up to Wedgwood with Martin Smith and Tavs Jorgensen. They were going up to discuss the re-establishment of links between the company and the RCA. We had a good look around the factory where Wedgwood is committed to continuing the production of their prestige ranges. Apparently the Japanese, who are a major market won’t buy the work unless it’s made in England.
After lunch, we returned to the Design Studio to discuss my project. I met Angela Hull, the prestige manager, who along with the rest of the team seems like someone that will be enjoyable to work with. I have some work to do before designing gets underway; they need a costing for the Wedgwoodn’t piece to enable them to work out feasibility and numbers.
I have spent some time thinking about the pieces that I would like to re-interpret, there’s the First Day Vase and an Acorn Vase that I would like to have a go at.












Co-incidentally I was looking at the MoMA on-line exhibition of the Design and the Elastic Mind show and found the work of Neri Oxman, an MIT researcher with a background in architecture and interests in ecology and computer modelling. She has used algorithmic generative modelling software to produce some architectural models. I spent some time trying to find out more about the technology, and have emailed her. I expect there are students at College who know something about it or students across at Imperial College. One way or another I’ll find out more.
If anyone reading this can point me in the right direction I'd be really grateful.

07.03.08 – The Complete Tureen

After a late Sunday night tidying up after Ceramic Art London, I had a very early start so that I could catch the 6.30 Eurostar to Paris.
I enjoy the journey by train, it’s certainly the best way to travel long distances.













Michel greeted me at the lab, taking me immediately to see the completed Wedgwoodn’t Tureen. My first impression was relief and excitement that the project had actually been achieved. On closer inspection, the surface finish was not quite as smooth as I expected, but Michel said that Gilles would be bringing in a second piece that he was still working on. Whilst waiting for Gilles to arrive, Michel and I discussed some of the technical aspects of the material and process in order for me to put forward strong applications for awards to fund my proposed research associate post.
About half an hour before I was due to leave Gilles turned up with a superb Tureen. It has the correct shade and sheen to match black ‘Basalt’ or ‘Jasper’ and the surface texture is much smoother. They have spent many hours working on this project and I am very grateful for their assistance and the support of Rapidform back at the RCA.
I packed the pieces very carefully and headed back to London, arriving just in time for my meeting at Wedgwood on Regent Street. I met the Design manager, Matthew Harrison, who listened to my explanation of the technology involved in producing the piece. He then brought in Frances Mossman, Wedgwood’s Global Design Manager who is really enthusiastic and would like me produce a range of similar work for the 250th anniversary next year. Though exciting, the implications will need careful thought. I have less than 2 months to complete my M.Phil and that mustn’t be put at risk.
The rest of the week passed in a blur, juggling throwing, slipcasting and making arrangements for next weeks visit to Wedgwood at Barlaston. By chance Martin Smith and Tavs had planned to meet the Design team to discuss re-establishing a connection between Wedgwood and the department and it seemed a convenient opportunity to join them. Martin Watmough from Rapidform is also coming to discuss the technical side of the project and to offer Wedgwood a service.
This week also saw interviews taking place and again I was asked to sit it on the Research student applications. There are some strong candidates this year, all of them would add something to the department and to the Research cluster.
Just before I left on Friday we got together to make the final choices. So there will be excited and relieved applicants, as well as some disappointed ones.
The coming weekend is likely to be a busy one, balancing the demands of College with a home life that needs some catching up on.

22.02.08: Poetry and Pottery

Deadlines are starting to loom, not just the completion of my thesis and practical work, but more imminent ones such as the Research Forum next Tuesday, where we have to give a short presentation on the current state of our research. We only have 15 to 20 minutes each, but it’s seems to take me a disproportionate amount of time to prepare for it. The audience is likely to be small, but will probably include staff from both the School of Applied Art and the Research Office.
The other deadline is the RSA Ceramic Futures competition interview to be held on the 11th March for which I am relying on the French company to complete the black tureen on time. Ideally, I should have it now so that it can be photographed and included in my presentation, and Martin Watmough from RapidformRCA has asked if it will be available next week for a visit he is having from the Vice-President of Z Corp. I have emailed and telephoned the company but feel a little in the dark, as I have no idea when it will be ready for collection. They have promised to complete it on time but I feel that last minute is almost the same as too late.
On a more positive note, a very successful glaze test came out of the kiln this week. The piece had been biscuit fired to 1140˚C then glazed with a metallic black glaze to the same temperature. Once the ‘bloom’ was polished off, the surface was just what I’m looking for, highly reflective and smooth, with no visible crazing.
The other enjoyable incident happened, surprisingly on the tube on Thursday. I spotted one of the Poems on the Underground, one by Elizabeth Cook called ‘Bowl’ that perfectly compliments my project.



‘Give me a bowl, wide
and shallow. Patient
to light as a landscape open
to the weight
of a deepening sky.’ *


Trying to memorise it on the tube literally and metaphorically transported me to another place [Liverpool St and home in Cumbria].

Earlier in the week I had seen another of the Poems on the Underground, this time called Maple Bridge. The first part is a translation by the poet Gary Snyder of a Tang dynasty poem, an almost haiku like description of night-time on the river, hearing the distant bell of a monastery. The accompanying poem is by the translator, set at the same location describing the scene in 2005.
Again, the effect is to transport the reader out of the uncomfortable physical confines of the tube to a place in the imagination. For me the discovery of a poem is always unexpected, as my mind is usually busy with ‘London’ thoughts, making the experience the more enjoyable for it.

* From ‘Bowl’ by Elizabeth Cook, published by Worple Press 2006

15.02.08 - Frankfurt

The past two weeks have passed very quickly, partly because I didn’t have my usual weekend at home but spent it in Frankfurt.
The week leading up to the trip is now a bit of a blur- what comes to mind are casting, glaze tests, writing and trying to organise the rapid prototyping of the glass blowing mould.
Friday morning soon came around and I made my way to Heathrow to meet Kathryn Hearn and her students from Central St. Martins. They organise a trip to Ambiente, the ceramics, glass and product design show each year. I thought I would join them to gain an idea of what is happening in Industrial ceramic design and to make contact with potential partners for the research fellowship.
The show is held at the enormous Messe, there are 9 or 10 halls, many of which have 5 floors! There are buses to take the thousands of visitors from one end to the other.
Over the 4 days of the show, I made contact with a number of firms, both glass and ceramic and have since followed up with emails giving some more information about the materials and technology I hope to work with next year.
Frankfurt is a pleasant enough place, the river running through the centre adds a bit of character to what I perceive may be a fairly boring financial centre, with an ever changing population of Messe visitors.
By Tuesday I was certainly ready to return to College and rest my aching feet.
The rest of the week went well, all practical stuff, including some hopeful glaze tests. The mirror black glaze is proving to be unreliable, with blisters appearing randomly. I had biscuit fired some fireclay casting slip, test pieces to 1080 and 1200 that were then glazed with the 2 black glazes and fired to 1140. The results are surprisingly good, considering the glaze has been taken 60 degrees higher than it is designed to go. I then re-fired 2 pieces that had been badly blistered, one of which needed some extra glaze and they came out better, but not perfect. I’ll try taking the temperature up a bit more. One of the glazes has an attractive speckle, which I need to remove if possible, so that was balled milled for a few hours today, whilst I went on a semi-useful photography course.
During the week I was invited to Limoges for a demonstration of treating and preparing the RP glass blowing mould for use. I would like to attend, but am worried about the amount of writing and making that still needs to be done.