Meet a Maker: Edition 10

Meet Doug Fitch & Hannah McAndrew

1. What is your craft and how did you get into it?

We are potters inspired by the glorious tradition of British slipware. Doug was first introduced to handmade pots through his headmaster, John Stein, at primary school, who was an amateur archaeologist. They would go field walking in rural Northamptonshire and collect pottery sherds as they went. When they returned to school their headmaster would show them the types of pots these Medieval sherds had once been part of. These ancient pieces of long-broken pottery formed the foundation of Doug’s passion for handmade pots. Eventually Doug did an Art Foundation course at college before going to Derbyshire College of Higher Education to study on the HND in Design Crafts (studio ceramics) course there.

I, Hannah, accidentally ended up in the ceramics department at Manchester Metropolitan University while on the Three-Dimensional Design course there. The metalwork room was where I had intended to be, but I couldn’t cope with the noise or the number of people. The ceramics room by contrast was calm, quiet and had plenty of space. The tutor there, Alex McErlain, was passionate about ceramics and all things clay and soon I was hooked. I went from there to an apprenticeship in Dumfries and Galloway with slipware potter Jason Shackleton. This is where my interest in this particular area of ceramics began.

2. What is one interesting fact about you?

Random facts about us. Doug is a bass player and played in a country punk band for ten years or more, and I enjoy swimming in the loch as often as I can.

3. How long have you been making?

Doug and I have both been self-employed for twenty years now, working side by side for the past nine. Doug has been making pots for forty years though; myself twenty-five.

4. Who are your favourite makers in your craft?

We both look in the main to historic pots to influence what we do. Huge influences to us though of a more contemporary nature would be Michael Cardew, Clive Bowen and Lisa Hammond.

5. What is the most challenging skill/technique you learned in your craft?

Every aspect of what we do can be fraught with problems. Slipware needs certain things to be done at certain times and the clay won’t stand for being messed about. When we are throwing pots, we are striving for the best forms that we can make, this can often mean pushing the clay to the edge of its capability and, in order to learn where that edge lies, you often have to push it beyond, leading to collapse. The same goes for our decoration. We are always interested in working out what comes next; what the next stage of development will be for our work.

At the moment we are firing pretty much exclusively in our electric kilns. We have both had wood fired kilns in the past. One is still at our old workshop, but we are looking forward to starting to build a new one together, here at home. This will give us back the connection with the firing of the pots, give us the access to the variation that the wood kiln can provide and give us the opportunity to fire the larger pots that we are currently working on. All of this is challenging and involves learning new skills of handling larger amounts of clay and then firing a new kiln with new quirks and foibles.

6. What is your favourite part of your craft?

Doug feels that decorating is his favourite part of the whole making cycle. He uses a variety of methods to decorate his work, applied pellets and coils of clay are one, sgraffito, finger wiping and painting slips are others.

For me, I think it is, with the exception of glazing the pieces which I don’t enjoy, whichever aspect of the process I am involved in at the time. I love throwing, slab building and decorating all equally and firing the wood kiln too.

7. What project are you most proud of and why?

Doug feels that the thing that he is most proud of is a potter called Jessica Mason, who came to him as a school girl for work experience. She went off to study art at university and has recently graduated from Clay College in Stoke-on-Trent and is now making pots for a living.

Mine would be of the ‘This is England’ charger that I made in response to the racist abuse during the Euro 2020 final. We put the piece into a prize draw, raising £9,000 for FareShare, a charity aimed at relieving food poverty. The winner of the draw then donated the piece to CoCA, the Centre of Ceramic Art in York where it is currently on display.

8. If someone who knows nothing about your craft could know one thing, what would it be? 

It would be that it is deceptively difficult. It takes many years of practise to become fluent in your hands. This goes for many crafts of course, not just ours. Also that wet slip is the most beautiful and alluring material.

Learn more about Doug and Hannah