I read a really interesting book recently on regenerative fashion and it really got me thinking about whether any of the concepts could be applied to the handmade pottery industry. In this episode, I explore author Safia Minney’s ideas in the book Regenerative Fashion: A Nature-based Approach to Fibres, Livelihoods and Leadership and think about ways we could use them as Potters. 

The ideas from Regenerative Fashion I think about are; 

*Thinking about pottery holistically, from where the materials have come from, who has mined them and where, how they have been processed and transported. 

*Whether we can use renewable materials in pottery 

*Eliminating fossil fuels in pottery 

*Using local materials to reduce global transportation. 

*Sustainable design in pottery - designing for the environment rather than for purely aesthetics

If you would like more information on pottery materials, knowing where they come from and their environmental impact, these books from Oxford Clay are particularly focused on this issue: 

Eco-Friendly Pottery: 30 Simple Ways: to make your pottery practice more ethical and sustainable

Eco-conscious Pottery Glazing: Make your own pottery glazes with minimal harm to humans, animals and the environment   

The blog post on Designing Pottery for the Environment mentioned in this episode can be found here. 

The book featured in this episode is Regenerative Fashion: A Nature-based Approach to Fibres, Livelihoods and Leadership Paperback – 28 Nov. 2022 by Safia Minney (Author).

You can watch the video version of this episode on YouTube.

✨Support the Podcast

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Resources for Potters:

⭐ Pottery eBooks

⭐ Pottery Paperback Books available from Amazon

Free Pottery Guides:

🆓 Download the Free How to Make a Pottery Glaze Workbook (suitable for beginners):

🆓 Download the Free How to programme an Electric Kiln for bisque and stoneware glaze firings (includes full kiln firing schedule)

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Submit your pottery question to the Oxford Clay podcast by emailing your question to: [email protected] with the subject line ‘Podcast Question’.