An Englishman in the US | Hamish Jackson | Episode 655

Hamish Jackson | Episode 655

Hamish Jackson is a potter from England, started potting at Winchcombe Pottery in the Cotswolds. Hamish got married to his lovely American wife Lauren and moved to the states six years ago. Since then Hamish has completed a four year apprenticeship under Mark Hewitt and now is now headed off to USU for grad school.

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How do you actually sell your work?

Various ways, but I have been finding home sales to be the best. Also online through my website and Instagram, Facebook a little. But the home sales have been great and that is something I learned during my apprenticeship with Mark Hewitt. Really there is no substitute for people coming and handling the pots and seeing an array and choosing. You just can’t get the feel of a pot online I think. Although I do like that method because I can send pots all around the world and it gives people access who aren’t local to me.

What kind of house do you live in that you could actually do home sales.

I mean it was just a house kind of in the woods but I had a nice back garden so I just put tables out and you know, spruce it up. But it was just basically tables in my back garden and I would serve tea and cake. It’s hard to not come when there is free tea and cake. I mean, I would go.

So you didn’t do it actually in the home?

No, always outside. And especially with the pandemic. When I did a sale a few weeks ago I gave everyone gloves at the gate and everyone had to wear a mask. And it worked because I had tables set out all around the garden. So if someone was really concerned you could be six feet apart.

Wood-fire is a slow process. How do you survive between firings?

Well, it is sort of a cycle. You are making for awhile and then the firing and then clean the pots and have a sale. So maybe it takes three months depending on the size of the kiln. And at the end of that you’ve got this big sale and that money sees you through the next cycle basically. That’s how I have done it.

Do you have multiple streams of income?

Yeah, I mean definitely selling the pottery is the main thing but I also during the pandemic I have spent the month putting together this pottery boot camp. Which is like an online course. It is ten week course for anyone who has access to clay and a wheel. It is mostly focused on the wheel, but we go through basic shapes right up to tea pots. The last week focuses on tea pots. Every week you get demonstrations from me, between thirty minutes and an hour demonstrations and reading and also there is a handbook which describes these are the dimensions we are going for and a little bit more information and description of what we are aiming at.

So you did that in the middle of the pandemic, is when you put that together?

Yes, because I lost a lot of sales opportunities and I was like,Maybe I should take a break from producing so many pots. So I spent a month making this course. I also wanted it to be accessible to people who could no longer go into a studio, but maybe they had a wheel at home. So it was totally born out of the Corona virus. There’s a Facebook group and it is really nice to see people posting pictures as they go through the weeks. For example, week 5 is cylinders and they have to make 108 cylinders so seeing people engage with these challenges…that’s why it’s called boot camp, it’s not going to be easy.

Why did you pick 108 cylinders?

Well 108 is quite a significant number in Buddhism and Hinduism traditions, like when I stayed in an Ashram in India we would chant 108 times this same mantra. And my theory is they do 108 because you are supposed to get to 100 but you lose track so the 8 are just extra. And I feel like that is the same with the cylinders, you know, you get to 100 you probably got it but the 8 extra you really nail the skills. I think with pottery the way to get good is repetition, especially repeating those first few steps of centering, opening, and pulling up. If you get a good foundation and practice that a lot then you can kind of make whatever you want.