Welcome to the first BCB festival.

Being in at the start of anything is always a heady combination of excitement and tension. Having been given the privilege to create and deliver the first British Ceramics Biennial for Stoke-on-Trent has taken us both into new terrains beyond the crafts, design and visual arts. It has also given us the opportunity to get to know the city and embark on explorations with some of its creative people and industries. The presence of some of the greatest names in ceramics history is also unavoidable as you travel through the city, which we want visitors to experience through the Biennial programme.

The Biennial has grown from the legacy of the Stoke Ceramics Festival, setting ambitious aims as a festival and as an ongoing part of the city. Funding commitments from North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership give us a unique opportunity to programme in the knowledge that there is more to come, but it also demands a commitment in return through a strong legacy of sustainable impact for the residents of Stoke-on-Trent.

Ceramics can reveal Stoke-on-Trent to the world, as well as revealing the world back to the city. From Jaime Hayon’s vibrant ceramic designs that owe much to his skateboarding youth, through the traditional rural potters of India’s Gujarat region, to the cream of current UK artists in both exhibition and site-specific installation, we hope we have made the argument for the cultural value of a medium that is currently threatened within Higher Education as well as within Industry and the global marketplace.

There is nothing like the British Ceramics Biennial in the UK: it is a first for Stoke-on-Trent and the start of what will doubtless be a significant journey towards a new way for the world to be thinking about the city, and for the city to be thinking about itself.

We hope you enjoy your own journey of ceramic revelation…

Co-Directors
Jeremy Theophilus & Barney Hare Duke