Don't axe the Great Pottery Throw Down - Britain needs its soulcraft

It was once seen as the hobby of choice for bored housewives. But, over the past couple of years, pottery has become one of the most popular evening courses in Britain. In many cities, it is almost impossible to get a place. Colleges have reported six month waiting lists. 

Our lust for clay has been fuelled, in part, by the BBC’s Great Pottery Throw Down; last year’s series drew up to 2.5 million viewers. Despite this, it has now been canned by the BBC. No more wedging, throwing, turning or glazing on prime time television. So long to presenters Sara Cox, Kate Malone, Keith Brymer Jones.

The programme was made by Love Productions, which is behind the Great British Bake Off, and there have been  suggestions that the Throw Down is a victim of their decision to sell the Bake Off to Channel 4.

Now, a petition demanding the BBC reinstate the pottery programme has attracted almost 10,000 signatures - a sure sign that our national obsession with 'soulcraft' shows no signs of dimming.

Tallie Maughan, owner of Turning Earth in Hackney opened a second 8,500 sq ft workshop in nearby Lea Valley, with space for hundreds of amateurs, after demand spiralled. 

“When we first started, it would take a couple of weeks to fill our courses,” she says. “Now they sell out online in seconds. It’s a bit like selling Glastonbury tickets.”

Researchers from the Royal Society of Arts are calling this surge of interest among ‘digital natives’ - the first to grow up with their lives governed by technology - the ‘maker movement’; a desire to produce something tangible and re-engage with skills their generation has lost touch with. 

After all, handcrafting is a primal urge. Once ancient man had printed his hands on cave walls, he learned how to make pottery - the oldest example is believed to have been created in 25,000 BC.

What’s more, crafting can have hidden benefits. Academics from Otago University, New Zealand have claimed that it can improve mental health, their subjects reporting being happier in the days following creative activities, such as drawing and sketching.

Working with clay falls firmly into this category - take it from me.

I signed up to a pottery class, desperately seeking a way to leave behind the stresses and strains of modern life. Two years later, I am happy to report that it works. One evening a week, I suspend reality for three hours and dedicate myself entirely to pinching, pulling and throwing. 

Clay is incredibly tactile. In a world in which we rely on screens, it offers the chance to work in 3D. There is little more satisfying than feeling a thick, cool slab yield to warm hands. As the ceramicist Bernard Leach said: “A potter is one of the few people left who uses his natural faculties of heart, head and hand in balance – the whole man.”

No doubt Brad Pitt would agree. Shortly after his divorce from Angelina Jolie, the actor revealed that rather than taking refuge in drink or drugs (vices to which he has previously confessed), he was instead working out his turmoil on lumps of clay. 

“It’s a very lonely occupation. There’s a lot of manual labour, which is good for me right now... I’m having a moment of getting to feel emotion at my fingertips” the 53 year-old told GQ magazine. “If I’m not creating something, doing something, putting it out there, then I’ll just be creating scenarios of fiery demise in my mind.”

It takes days, even weeks, to make, fire and glaze a pot or sculpture. It is a plodding process, but that is part of the allure. Whether you live in the British suburbs or the Hollywood Hills, it is enough to take you away from the demands of daily life (or, at least, your smartphone).

Isn't that something we could all use in these turbulent times?

“Clay is from the earth beneath our feet, and working with it gives an immediate connection that roots, calms and stabilises,” says Kate Malone, who was one half of the Great Pottery Thrown Down judging panel. “Its malleability is a pleasure, possibilities are endless. I have been to meditation classes and recognise the same feeling.”

The other half, Brymer Jones agrees. “Working with clay allows a unique form of escapism,” he says. “You can relax and empty your mind. It’s amazingly therapeutic. I suffer from dyslexia and I have always found working with clay is a natural outlet.” 

It is not just the satisfaction that is huge, but the camaraderie. Each week, I quietly pass the time surrounded by a jumble of women and men, who might not otherwise have crossed paths. 

It’s a simpler way of interacting; one without the pressure for constant one-upmanship. You won’t find selfies with our pottery on social media (phones are frowned upon in class).

There’s no need to be the next Grayson Perry. Just the act of creating something by hand - however sloppy - is joyful.

How potty-mouthed are you?

Wedging: Kneading and slapping the clay to get rid of air holes and make it stronger. Very noisy.

Pinching: Inserting a finger into a ball of clay and pinching the walls to thin and shape it.

Throwing: Making ceramics on a fast-rotating wheel. Think Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore in <Ghost>.

Coiling: Spiralling long, snake-like rolls of clay, often inside a mould, to make a pot.

Pulling: A Great British Throw Down favourite, making mug handles with a rather risqué-looking hand movement to pull the clay into a ‘parnsip’ shape.