John West
2026 – Taking part in Potfest South West – Shaftesbury and Potfest Suffolk – Haughley Park
I began pottery in 1981, quite by accident. I was asked if I would take on a small teaching workshop at a specialist college near Stroud. Basically, the interest and love of the craft grew and grew. Today, over 40 years later, I am just as excited opening the kiln as I was the very first time.
If you love what you do, you will never work another day in your life’
I have been so lucky to be a part of many workshops and masterclasses. This has been with such people as David and Margaret Frith, Phil Rogers, Sven Bayer, Ken Matsuzaki, and Shojo Michikawa. In 2003 I was a student on the final Forest of Dean College pottery course.
I make mainly functional pottery for use in and around the home with one of those functions being beauty.
My work is high fired to stoneware temperatures up to 1300 degrees C using a wood-fired kiln. Instead of using glazes in the traditional sense, I introduce bicarbonate of soda into the flame that creates a lustrous surface over slips (wet clay) and ash glazes.
I am very fortunate to both live and work, overlooking the five valleys of Stroud in Gloucestershire close to the Cotswold way. I am able to collect wood for my ash glazes and various clays and muds from the local hills and the River Severn, incorporating the local landscape into my work.