Hello and welcome, I'm Ian Burgess and having spent the last 25 years running my set building company, within the retail and events industries, I’ve enjoyed the process of working with a wide variety of materials, creating things from conventional exhibition stands to weird and wonderful builds for TV, immersive, pop up and live events.

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My first workshop was down the wonderfully creative Vanguard Court, in Camberwell, where I was surrounded by painters, sculptors, printers, set builders, fabric designers, a recording studio and some – now very well known – ceramicists.

I was always intrigued and fascinated by the way the different ceramicists worked; the endless possibilities of shapes, textures and glazes. All this from clay with the help of peoples imagination and hands.

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I’d always made my own work, either by painting, printing or sculpting in the available materials I had around me, but I’d never tried making anything in clay.

Which brings me to London Clay.

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In 2018 I took an intensive pottery course where I learned how to throw on a kick wheel. Needless to say, I instantly fell for working in this medium. I wanted to know more about its possibilities and limitations and, with my experience in set building, I was able to build myself a pottery studio in our garden where I spent hours and days practicing.

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I’ve since taken further courses and, along the way, developed an obsession with Moon Jars (inspired by Korean potter and Ongiie master, Lee Kang-Hyo) and have been down many a Moon Jar shaped rabbit hole!

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I’m very conscious of how much there is to learn, and the more I look, the more I realise a life time just isn’t long enough – the world of clay is vast. But I’m hoping that by opening London Clay pottery studio, I can spend as much time as possible exploring this world further, amongst a community who want to learn and share their skills and passion for clay too.

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London Clay will give this community the opportunity to learn from skilled tutors and practicing potters but also create a place where people can come and discover what’s possible when they access their creativity and simply play with clay.

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One of the best things about working in clay is to sometimes expect the unexpected. Wabi-Sabi is a “Japanese concept that emphasises finding beauty in imperfections, Impermanence and incompleteness which encourages the appreciation for the natural world, simplicity and the transient nature of all things”

 
This sums up my experience of working with clay so far, and I truly believe anyone and everyone can make something beautiful.
 

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