The slow, mindful craft of ceramics is booming worldwide
Pottery is the perfect tactile pastime for now, say its fans, and a great antidote to the digital world. Dominic Lutyens from The BBC talks to enthusiasts and professionals about their love of clay – and the power of touch.
The tyranny of working and communicating digitally is one reason for the recent appetite for crafting – it is the perfect antidote to the online world. And of all the crafts, perhaps pottery does this most successfully. The messiness of working with wet or damp clay and the need to follow a process to achieve results forces practitioners to put their phones and tablets aside. What's more, although multi-tasking has long been seen in a positive light, now is a time when many of us yearn to slow down, and focus on a single, absorbing activity.
Amateur pottery buffs all over the world are increasingly attending classes or open studios where they can choose to make pottery for one-off sessions or take out longer memberships.
