After a short summer break, Turning Earth's Ceramics Market returns to the Highgate studio on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of September. With 120 different makers offering their handmade pieces over the weekend, you can expect to find some crafted and unique treasures. Make sure to visit on both days as there will be 60 different makers on each!
All the ingredients for the best weekend out are there: handmade goods, live music, street food, pottery demonstrations, and the cherry on the cake, a Roman kiln firing!
On Saturday, the market will be enlivened with music of critically acclaimed folk singer-songwriter Theo Bard. While on Sunday the composer Jimm, from the Jazz Cannibals, will be back with his eclectic style, a mix of jazz, rap, trad, folk, reggae, sea-shanty, punk, and funk.
Sourdough Daali, a micro-bakery and street food pop-up, will let you indulge in some hearty sourdough focaccia sarnies - grilled cheese and lamb shawarma, French-onion black daal and baked goods such as cardamom banana bread and brown butter flapjacks. Next to them, Nuun Cakes will be offering a specially curated menu of cake boxes, serving their artisanal sponges, signature toppings, and unique flavour combos. Last but not least, Handles Coffee will have barista coffees.
For those curious about the art of ceramics, our teachers and technicians will give wheel-throwing demonstrations, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process and showing you what you might learn in one of our courses.
The pottery-history of Highgate Woods
Between 50AD-150AD, a 'Roman' pottery manufacturing site was periodically active amongst the Oaks and Hornbeams (now Highgate Woods). During the 1960’s and 70’s Harvey Sheldon and Tony Brown, co-directors, worked with many volunteer archaeologists to excavate this unique setting. 10 kilns were found during the excavations along with countless pottery sherds and rare complete pots. One kiln, lifted in 1968, is currently being restored for exhibition in the Woods in September. The most famous pottery forms found are the humble and intimately shaped ‘Poppyhead beakers’, with their Barbotine-style dots and slip decoration. Since the time of the kilns' discovery, there has been a tremendous amount of energy from local heritage councils and charities to raise awareness of the rich history that flows through these hills. Most notable is the charity ‘Friends of Highgate Roman Kilns’ (FoHRK), which Turning Earth has teamed up with to expand on the pottery-making efforts and bring the local clay to local makers.
Turning Earth celebrates local pottery heritage
Over the last year, we have been building a relationship with FoHRK and gained permission to experiment with the local clay-rich deposits. With the Woods being steeped in pottery-making heritage from the 1st and 2nd centuries, it's only fitting that the first pottery site to open in these hills in nearly 2000 years should make efforts to return to the heritage of the Highgate area.
On the 12-15th of August 2024, part of our team, together with volunteers from the FoHRK, built a replica of an ancient Roman Kiln, just on a corner of the Cricket Field in the Highgate Woods and next to the Cafe and the Education Hub.
On the same weekend of the market, on the 21st and 22nd of September, the volunteers of FoHRK, their partners Bruce Castle Museum and the City of London and we, will light up this kiln with an experimental wood firing, using wood from the surrounding area and the pots made by local potters with the clay we dug in the previous month. The firing will be open to the public on both days and it’s a very unique experience to watch. The kiln will be packed early on Saturday and the firing will start just after, burning for the whole day. After an evening of cooling down, the kiln will be then unpacked on Sunday afternoon, around 4 pm (weather-dependent).
This will also be an opportunity for education on the rich history of the Highgate Wood and to see the original 2000-year-old Roman kiln conserved and brought back to the woods for the public to see for the first time since its discovery.
Turning Earth's mission has always been to make ceramics and pottery accessible to the public. Working with clay has proven mental health benefits as well as a natural way to bring communities together. As a pottery studio, we continuously celebrate our human history by molding the earth into art and useful vessels, following the footsteps of many before us, and continuing this heritage craft. We believe in the social power of our studios and their ability to bring people together. We are proud to be growing roots in the surrounding woodlands and bringing our passion for ceramics to the local communities with these public firing events with our friends at FoHRK. We think this to be an important site not only for historians and archaeologists but also for makers and craft-oriented individuals with a thirst to learn about their pottery history.
About Turning Earth Ceramics
Turning Earth is London's largest co-work ceramics studio complex, now spanning three hobbyist studios across London (Hoxton, Leyton, and Highgate) and one professional studio in Leyton, In Production. We greet hundreds of members and students each week and everyone is welcome, from complete beginners to professional potters.
Here and when:
Date: 21st and 22nd September 2024
Time: 11-5 pm each day
Location of the market: Turning Earth Highgate, Woodside Works, Summersby Road, London, N6 5UH
Location of Roman firing: next to Highgate cafe inside Highgate Woods, follow the arrows from the studio entrance
Contact Information:
Email: info@turning.earth
Website: https://www.turningearth.org/n6/events
Instagram: @turning_earth
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/share/H3f938cNJVS9SHKb/