Images: Jo Davies / Text: Anke Buchmann, Jo Davies
In the studio with Jo Davies
Last week I was fortunate to visit Jo Davies in her studio at the Chocolate Factory in Stoke Newington, London.
Jo Davies is an award-winning, London based ceramicist, with years of experience and craftsmanship. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2007 and has a degree in 3D Design: Ceramics from Bath School of Art and Design. Jo specialises in wheel-thrown and hand-built porcelain. She recently had a solo show "Lines in Porcelain: Vessels and Light” at Circus Gallery on Marylebone High Street.
CS: Thanks so much for having me here today at your studio. What I really like about your work is the combination of craftsmanship and energy. You enhance perfect, regular shapes by embracing irregularity and asymmetry, which leads to pieces that seem to be alive, fluid, full of positive energy.
CS: On a scale from 1 to 10, how happy or satisfied does your job make you?
JD: Well, probably an average of 8.7 most of the time. But occasionally it is more a 2.5. These are the days when you have worked really hard, you have been to a show and sold one thing. Fortunately this mostly doesn’t happen and, for the most part, things go well.
I am happy doing this work. I am happy in this studio. I am happy with my own company. Yeah it’s more good than bad. It’s more 8.7 days than 2.5 days.
‘I quite like the clay looking liquid.’
CS: You describe that you are interested in the ‘exploration of the material qualities of clay’. Can you talk a bit more about the process of this exploration?
JD: Well, when I am throwing there is a lot happening. I am always quite aware of my body and using it as whole to throw the clay – a shift of body weight or standing up to work. The exploration of these physical movements when throwing will change the shape of the clay and so I can explore the possibilities and the boundaries in this way. Ultimately I quite like the clay looking liquid when it’s finished. It should still look quite fluid in the final ceramic, quite soft, as it is when I’m throwing it.
CS: Your work is designed to feel very liquid, satin and tactile. The look is equally important to the feel. What makes your work unique or special? What is it about?
JD: I’m really interested in the clay looking like it’s been handled, like it’s still soft clay, and creating work that doesn’t look like it’s been machined. Often that comes about through the use of exaggerated throwing lines as well as some inefficient making processes to create work that appears to move organically. There’s a balancing act between geometrical forms and organic shapes – too organic and the object starts to feel unwieldy, too geometric and it starts to feel too still or as if it could have been made by a machine.
I use quite a lot of water when I am throwing porcelain, which isn't technically what you are supposed to do, but I know it gives me this liquidity that I’m after . I have arrived at a point where I have mastered using the very wet porcelain in larger quantities so it works for me and gives the work a unique feel.
‘Porcelain was in the air.’
CS: Why did you choose to work with porcelain rather than another clay?
JD: I think when I was at Bath School of Art it was something that was in the air. Porcelain was in the air. So I started dabbling with that. And then I quite liked the idea that you could use a clay that was its own colour and surface finish when it was fired. So that was appealing, of at least having the option of not glazing. Although everything I do now is glazed. It’s also because of the refinement of the material, it’s a smooth and elastic material that’s beautiful to throw. It stretches and moves at every stage.
CS: What artists or designers have inspired you most along the way?
JD: That is always a tricky question to answer actually, because there are so many people. But right at the start I liked Barbara Nanning - a Canadian artist. Her forms seem to defy gravity and she was quite influential on me. Louise Bourgeois was also influential as a character, her attitude, as well as her art, are massively inspiring. These days there are obviously a lot of people whose work I really respect and love but their work doesn't affect me in the same way as the early influences because I am in my own aesthetic trajectory. Plus with age I have found it harder to be as in awe.
CS: What is for you the most favourite part of the process?
JD: Actually working on the wheel. When I am developing something new on the wheel and it is working there is an excitement to seeing it evolve. Quite often I work on new shapes and a lot of things don’t make it because they are heavily edited. However, I also know I sometimes have to let a new object sit there for a while in order to really consider it. This is because I am irrational at the point that I have just made something new and need to give myself time to think about it more logically. Every few weeks I am developing something new, or evolving work in progress, but because of this frequent but slow development there are some designs where it takes me years until I am happy. I might make something and then come back to it a few months later in order to refine it and work into it.
CS: How many hours do you spend on a cup from your collection, from wedging clay to taking it out of the kiln?
JD: For the journey of one cup I suppose, from wedging the clay, handling it, …stamping it, wiping it off, into the kiln, it gets glazed, in the kiln again… so yeah, probably about half an hour for a cup but across the course of about 2-3 weeks.. Other things would take much more time. I normally make cups in medium-sized batches.
‘Because I am here on my own, it can get quite intense.’
CS: How does a typical day look like for you?
JD: Typical days look like me getting into the studio between 9-10am and starting with writing a list of all the things I have to do and then cracking on with it. But, to be honest, there are not many typical days. Sometimes I spend a whole day in design development and sometimes I spend a whole day answering emails. This morning I answered a whole list of questions from a journalist, answered a customer about a possible commission, booked a hotel for the weekend. So sometimes my private life blends into my work life as well. I am quite self-motivated overall but I would usually start the day off with a few emails to keep on top of answering questions from customers, galleries and other enquiries. There are certain things that can’t wait and sometimes not answering within 24 hours looses the work, I can never lose track of the fact that this is both my passion and my livelihood.
CS: Are you good at stopping?
Yeah, I am good at stopping, I don’t really work into the evening and try not to work over the weekends but, because I am here on my own, it can get quite intense. I don’t take breaks a lot through the day but will be quite definite about time off and won’t allow that time to be encroached on. When you work for yourself it can be quite easy to end up without any boundaries, different pressures on your time taking you into the studio or elsewhere at all times through the week but I realized a while ago that I can say ‘no’, or arrange something on a day other than the one that’s being requested, without feeling obligated to give a reason!
CS: Can you talk me through your process when designing new pieces of work or when working on a commission?
JD: Sometimes I quickly sketch an idea. And yes, sometimes there will be research involved. It depends on the project and how technical it is. So my pendant lighting range has involved quite a lot of technical research but then a project from a few years ago with the William Morris Gallery involved a lot of more creative research and drawing prior to the making of the installation I produced. Mainly though I will sit down at the wheel to develop new work. That is like a sketchbook for me, developing 3D sketches.
CS: What do you recommend to an emerging ceramicist?
JD: Don’t give up! Just carry on doing what you love. It is very easy to think ‘I will do this thing on the side, something that people will like in order to make money’ but what sells your work is the fact that you love it. If you can learn to integrate both things, business and creativity, if there is a connection between the two, then that is going to be a success.
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Artist Website: http://www.jo-davies.com
Instagram: jo_davies_ceramics Masterclass with Jo Davies: https://vimeo.com/135448079
Upcoming Events for Jo Davies:
Lustre at Nottingham University
4-5 November One of the best mixed craft events in the UK
Future Icons Showcase, 67 York Street, London
6-11 November Future Icons presents the inaugural Winter Showcase of client collections at 67 York Street, Marylebone. For this occasion, Future Icons has selected key pieces from client collections for design savvy buyers to purchase in time for the Christmas shopping season.
Jo Davies Open Studio, Chocolate Factory N16, Farleigh Place, London, N16 7SX
25-26 November The Jo Davies studio is based at the Chocolate Factory when this Open weekend will offer work from 27 studios at this hidden gem in East London. This is also the only time to buy samples and seconds from the Jo Davies Studio.
Porcelain³ Jo Davies . Katharina Klug . Anja Lubach
Contemporary Ceramics Centre, London
15 Feb – 10 March An Exhibition of Vessels by 3 contemporary porcelain ceramicists.











