Introducing Pip Hartle

While we officially welcomed UK potter Pip Hartle to the shop last Fall, we've organized a small interview here. Let's have a proper introduction shall we?

JB: How did you come around to clay?
PH: I had been traveling in Central America for six months and I really missed making.  On return to London I signed up for some adult education classes in a few different subjects.  I had studied Textiles as a degree years before, but I wanted to try something new.  Once I started to get pots out the kiln I was hooked.  I loved the physicality of it, the relationship you build with the material and the differences between the various processes involved.

JB: When the stars align, where do you like to eat out in London?
PH: We are so spoiled with food here in London. A few favourites are Moro, 40 Maltby Street, Mengal, Violets, Lelias, Bocca di Lupo, Tyabbs, Silk Road.

JB: What's your favourite shape to throw and why?
PH: That is a tricky one! I guess any shape that is perfectly proportioned is always satisfying.  Although sometimes I will throw a technically great shape and it just won't feel like me, so I'd rather throw something that feels like a true representation of me.  If its a little off and chunky, so be it.
I think a cylinder is the best place to start and everything else comes from that.  

JB: Transportation. Walk, Tube, or Bicycle?
PH: Hands down BICYCLE.  you see things on the bike that you just wouldn't see or experience otherwise.

JB: Dogs or Cats?
PH: Dogs. I am a huge animal lover and if I didn't work with clay I would want to work with animals.
I have a dog and I literally cannot express how much I love him.  This morning he got the whiff of some poor creature and I had to scale fences and fight through brambles to find him. But I still can't help but adore life with an animal.