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Brendon Norton | Episode 1003
Brendon Norton is the hand builder of Bad Swan Ceramic pots. Working full-time from his humble home studio in the South West of Western Australia, mainly specialising in Bonsai Pots and Ikebana Vases. Brendon’s self taught journey into clay began only 4 years and has worked tirelessly to hone his skills in traditional techniques and his self derived methods.
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Are you ever tempted to trade back and put the pouches on instead of keeping the pots coming out?
As a straight answer I would probably have to say no, Paul. I’m doing the best I can and working as hard as I can to try and make sure that doesn’t happen. Like I said, my passion is with what I am doing. I enjoy it immensely and my objective is to continue and I am excited about the future.
What is it about ceramics or bonsai pots that’s more rewarding than electrical work?
I guess it’s just the creative freedom. Obviously with electricity there’s set guidelines and rules with the creative mind there’s a freedom and I think that’s the core difference between the two.
How are you getting pots out into the world? From your studio to someone’s bonsai?
It’s quite a niche thing so I guess a lot of it is by word of mouth. Obviously a lot by social medias. I had a website for a period there but i really wasn’t updating it. I just didn’t have the product to update it because I was selling by private inquiry and commission work. I also set up a Facebook page to really pinpoint an audience. I sell a lot of my work on that format as an auction for a bid price.
I don’t see a lot of repeats in your work. How do you keep your creativity fresh and engaged?
I think it’s intuitive. I get bored easily as well so I am always looking for new challenges. I trust in myself, I guess, and my creativity to lead me to what I am building on any particular day. Unless it’s a commissioned piece then I kind of go with the flow whether I want to do some detail work or a sculptural piece, whether I want to do a more raw, organic piece, it’s just one of those things that I don’t think you can really consciously answer that question. It just kind of happens. I like to give each pot a unique…whether it’s the texture, the form, even unique feet on the pots. I like keep things unique and different. I like to give people a true one of kind piece.
When you are making, do you see a particular tree in that pot as you make it?
Sometimes. Yeah, I do. Not so much when I am making it but when it’s come through the process and it’s fired and I see the pot I can envision what kind of tree would look good in that pot. And that’s subjective. That’s my opinion. What ends up in the pot after it leaves me, that is in the hands of the bonsai artist.
What did your wife think of your pots?
She loved them. In their infancy, obviously when we all begin this journey, there’s a lot of room for improvement. So she was open and honest with me in regards to my work but she saw a fairly rapid and profound progression in my work, I guess, and was always encouraging me and told me whether she liked something or didn’t like something. And that keeps you striving as well. Yeah, she was a fan of my work.
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Instagram: @bad_swan_ceramics