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Tom Kemp | Episode 409
Tom Kemp is back for another appearance on The Potters Cast. Tom has been potting for six years and got really serious in June 2017 when he quit his job to work full-time with ceramics. Tom’s background is in lettering and calligraphy where he has developed the use of the ‘square-edged’ brush which Tom still teaches around the world. It’s also the tool Tom uses most to ‘write’ on his pots.
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From your perspective what is the first step a person should take if they want to start a business?
I think the very first thing is to really want it, not just for money, not just because you have to .You just have to really want that thing and to do that thing everyday and put up with all the side issues that you have to do like putting things in boxes and sending them off or dealing with the tax man. Being able to accept all those is just necessary conditions to do something that you absolutely have to do. So the very first step is to really want it.
Your making is now your source of income. How different is it to be making for your income compared to selling your time to a business?
The main difference is the huge fluctuation in income. So some months are fabulous and there is a big spike in income and it looks fantastic. Then the next month absolutely nothing. So going up and down like that is a new thing for me to deal with. I am much more used to having a very steady income guaranteed every month and the bills due every month especially my mortgage is absolutely safe. Whereas now I have to plan quite a long way ahead. I have to be careful not to get too giddy and carried away when I do get a bit of income because I just happen to have sold a dozen big vases this month. Well that’s lovely but a lot of that has to go to income tax and I also have to pay for months when I get nothing at all.
How do you balance the cash flow for the lean months and the not so lean months?
Just be disciplined. So make sure you understand your outgoings very clearly. Your regular ones and the ones you have to do every now and again for your business. And just try and ignore those big incomes and if you can’t then literally put money aside for future months. Have an account that you are not allowed to go into, it is for future months. That is one way of doing it, I guess. Knowing your outgoings is the big one there. So that you’re never surprised by having to spend a lot of money all of a sudden.
Do you find there is a tension between creativity and capitalism?
Have you got about 20 years to discuss that one? Well I have been born into a capitalistic society and I live and breath it. It is hard to see capitalism when you are in it, especially our Western European society. It is hard to step outside of it and realize what it is and what is going on. It is hard to pick apart your question. I have always been making stuff so that isn’t a new thing for me, so the process of making and so on, I’ve been doing all along,since I was twelve years old when I first picked up a quill pen. That hasn’t ever changed. The only difference for me now is I have to do a lot more of it in order to survive. That is the key to making this business work. I have to do lots more of the thing that I really love to do, which if you get to that position, you can’t really fail. The only way you can fail is if the thing you want to do is not attractive to anybody else and they won’t give you any money for it. So don’t launch into a business where you know that is true. But even if you have an inkling that what you do could be attractive to somebody else, and by all means do the experiments to find out, then, yeah, there is no reason not to do it. You end up have a creative and hopefully comfortable life.
Describe a making day for you.
A making day is, I guess, most days. I am working at least six days a week at the moment. There is quite a long way to travel to the studio right now. It is about 40 minutes travel. So during that time I will probably do some reading or maybe answer emails. Get to the studio and these days it is usually very cold so turn on all the heating and just say hi to everybody. And then whatever that day is. If it’s trimming , if it’s throwing, I am trying to do some of everything on one day. So if I start with throwing first thing in the morning, if I have been really kind to myself I would have wedged and kneaded all the clay the night before. So I will arrive and there will be lots of lovely, fresh clay for me to start throwing with immediately. So I just absolutely just love those moments. Make some vases, whatever it is that I have to make that day for the next few hours. Have some lunch, then in the afternoon do some trimming or some wrapping or glazing. Actually the days I hate most are the days when I have to do glazing because right now there is no glaze booth where we are now and it has to be done outside and it is so cold here right now. I know you Americans can beat us every time with that but for us poor Brits there is some kind of arctic gale happening right now. So I have to be doing some spraying of glaze outside and if I am really unlucky it is raining as well and that is really fun.
Describe an administrative day for you.
I try not to have a whole day of administration. I think that’s a mistake. I always do a little bit every day. It is spread out so I try not to notice that I have done some. That is the best way to treat administration from my point of view. Some people love it. I really, really don’t.
What is your favorite tool and why?
Apart from my hands?
Apart from your hands.
Oh, favorite. Well, the most useful tool is the cutting wire. I do not know how I would do work without that. Because you can sort of get away with using your hands for almost everything but you cannot cut things off the wheel without a wire.
My favorite tool. Okay, if I am really honest, I asked Simon Leach, quite a well-know YouTube potter, to send me one of his throwing sticks in which he writes, Keep Practicing, it is his famous phrase. He is one of my heroes because he is one of those people that just deliberately teaches on YouTube. He has a magnificent body of work that he has produced as he has shown us all how to make stuff. Anyway, he makes these throwing sticks and it is a very good design. He writes on them, Keep Practicing, but he writes it in an American way. He writes practicing with a “c”. I said, Can I have the UK spelling? Keep Practising with an “s”? So I have got a unique Simon Leach tool.
Book
Writing and Illuminating and Lettering by Edward Johnston
Contact:
https://tomkemp.com/
Instagram: @tom_kemp_