Studio

Ian Jobling's ceramics studio in Durham, England, with shelves of pottery materials, a kiln and workbenches.

The craft behind the pots.

The Pot Maker’s Place

This is where ideas become bonsai pots.

In a small studio in Durham, UK, every pot is designed, constructed, refined and fired in the studio.

The studio is a place for making, but also for thinking, experimenting and learning. Every collection begins with an idea, develops through research and eventually finds its way into clay.

Handcrafted stoneware bonsai pot being shaped in the studio.

The Pot Making Process

Technical drawing showing the design and proportions of a bonsai pot.
Technical drawing showing the design and proportions of a bonsai pot.

1. Design

Ideas begin with observation, drawing and proportion.

Ian Jobling hand-building a stoneware bonsai pot using traditional studio tools.neware bonsai pot.

2. Build

Slab-built, hand-finished, and individually considered.

Ian Jobling hand-trimming a slab built bonsai pot.

3. Finish

Edges, feet, holes and surfaces are finished by hand.

Electric kiln used for firing Ian Jobling's handcrafted stoneware bonsai pots.

4. Firing

Each bonsai pot passes through the kiln before becoming what it was intended to be.

“Nothing is mass-produced”.

“Each pot passes through my hands from the first cut of clay to the final firing”.

The Pot Maker

After 35 years of working and building businesses, I’ve learned that making something well requires space — space to observe, to experiment, to make mistakes and to begin again.

The studio gives me that space.

Close-up of a handmade leather wallet on a wooden surface.
Winter landscape with bare trees used to represent space and stillness in Ian Jobling's studio practice.

Ian Jobling

Inside the Studio

Clay slab roller machine in Ian Jobling's bonsai pottery studio.
Pottery tools including rolling pins used in the studio to shape clay slabs.
Collection of hand tools used for shaping and finishing handcrafted pottery in the studio.
Hand trimming the top of a rectangular bonsai pot ensures flatness prior to rim carving.
Shelves of ceramic glazes used in Ian Jobling's pottery studio.
Glazing brushes stored in the pottery studio for applying ceramic glazes.

“Every pot is made with care, shaped by hand and grounded in purpose”.