Living Heritage Heroes are sought for a major intergenerational project celebrating and supporting Stoke-on-Trent’s endangered industrial ceramic hand skills
Stoke Creates and British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) are inviting local people aged 65 and over, with experience of working in the ceramics industry, to come forward as Living Heritage Heroes for Our Time, Our Place, Our Heritage – a major intergenerational project celebrating and contributing to the safeguarding of Stoke-on-Trent’s endangered industrial ceramic hand skills, with participants joining the project this summer.
Call for Living Heritage Heroes
Ten Living Heritage Heroes will be invited to take part in the project alongside twelve young people aged 16-25, sharing knowledge and experience of the ceramics industry through hands-on workshops, archive exploration, informal demonstrations and recorded interviews. Their contribution will be documented as part of a co-created Clay Manifesto setting out a vision for the future of Stoke-on-Trent’s living heritage, an exhibition and the premiere of a newly commissioned documentary film – creating a permanent record of skills and stories that might otherwise be lost.
Skills including mould-making, tissue transfer, hand-decoration and gilding are now critically endangered. With Stoke-on-Trent recently designated a World Craft City, the project responds to an urgent need to document, celebrate and share the living knowledge that built the city’s global ceramic reputation.
Neil Brownsword, Professor of Ceramics and Creative Director of the project, said:
“We are looking for the people who built this city’s global reputation with their hands. I grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, and I started my own working life as an apprentice at Wedgwood. I know first-hand what it means to learn a skill from someone who has spent a lifetime perfecting it. For decades, the people who carried these extraordinary skills were simply let go when the factories closed. Their knowledge was never recorded, never celebrated. This project is our chance to put that right and will make sure they are not forgotten.”
The project welcomes anyone with experience working in the ceramics industry, in any capacity. Whether in production, decoration, mould-making, packing, gilding or design – on the factory floor or in the studio – no prior experience of arts or heritage projects is required.
Susan Clarke, Executive Director, Stoke Creates, adds:
“We are looking for the people who built Stoke-on-Trent’s ceramic legacy to step forward. Their knowledge is the living heart for this city’s heritage, and this project exists to honour, record and share it for future generations.”
Information Sharing Session
Stoke Creates and the British Ceramics Biennial will host a free drop-in information session on Wednesday, 10th June, 4-6pm, at the BCB Studio, Stoke-on-Trent for anyone interested in learning more about becoming a Living Heritage Hero. Visitors will have a chance to meet the project team.
Click here to find out more about the Drop-in Information Sharing Session.
Find out more about Our Time, Our Place, Our Heritage here.
For press enquiries, contact: Sarah Bonam, Project Manager: sarah@sarahbonam.co.uk /
07921126692
Support
Our Time, Our Place, Our Heritage is led by Stoke Creates in partnership with British Ceramics Biennial, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, made possible by National Lottery players. The project runs from April 2026 to February 2027.
