Ceramicists speak of fears for pottery industry

Ceramicists at a market in Staffordshire have spoken of their fears over the increasing pressures businesses are facing in the pottery industry.

More than 60 traders attended a Ceramic Makers' Market at the Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent on Saturday, the city council said.

But business owners said they were worried after a number of pottery firms in the area closed recently, with job losses at Royal Stafford and Portmeiron last month.

Ceramic maker Ian Minshull said the pottery industry was "difficult" at times due to factories announcing redundancies.

Mr Minshull was made redundant from three separate ceramic firms before he started his own business, Black Star Ceramics, 10 years ago, but he said the industry was facing rising costs and bills.

"The pressures that I'm under with my small business is mostly electric, the cost of electric is constantly going up, we're doing everything we can to subsidise that whether it's solar and batteries," he explained.

"But it's the increase in the cost of glaze, the materials and we're having to pass that onto the customer."

Mr Minshull said customers had been sympathetic and understanding but he was worried about the future of the industry.

"Every day we're seeing businesses announcing that there's going to be job losses and that's concerning," he added.

"The skills, they take so long to learn, to pass through generations and to just lose them overnight, it's quite scary."

Another trader, Sarah Hallam, told the BBC the price of both bisque and glazed fire had increased in the last couple of years.

"The industry is struggling to attract younger people because of all the redundancies they've made over the last 20 years, it doesn't look really attractive, " added Nathan Smallman from Sculpta Ceramics.

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