The Great Pottery Throw Down. Pictured: Rich, Keith & Siobhan with Moorcroft designer, Emma Bossons FRSA and Moorcroft tubeline artist, Gill Johnson.
The Great Pottery Throw Down 2023 on Channel 4 will host the country’s famous art pottery, Moorcroft, on Sunday 5th March, Episode 9. Series 6 commenced with 12 new home potters with Siobhán McSweeney hosting contestants as they strove to create great works of craftsmanship, skill and imagination with each challenge judged by expert judging duo Keith Brymer Jones and Rich Miller. For the Great Pottery Throw Down’s semi-final Moorcroft designer, Emma Bossons FRSA, joins as Guest Judge whilst contestants get fired up to compete in a Queen’s Choice challenge.
Which of the four remaining potters will be left feeling calm after making Turkish baths style twin sinks and decorative tiles? Moorcroft is the surprise second challenge, a difficult test of design and one requiring a steady hand as they take on the iconic Moorcroft tubelining. Judges Keith Brymer Jones and Rich Miller must make a tough decision, which three potters will go through to the grand final?
The Great Pottery Throw Down, filmed at Gladstone Museum, is well known for celebrating the rich history of British pottery creation in the heart of The Potteries itself, Stoke-on-Trent. Now heritage icon, Moorcroft, will showcase its design acumen, the pottery’s very own heritage skill of ‘tubelining’ (demonstrated by Gill Johnson) as well as fine artistry.
Find out more @GreatPotteryThrowDown
ABOUT MOORCROFT DESIGNER EMMA BOSSONS FRSA
In a Moorcroft career, which started at the tender age of 20, Emma’s work has become extraordinarily popular with Moorcroft collectors across the globe. From the outset, her designs flashed across the world with Queen’s Choice a best seller ever since. For 2002, the young designer’s Golden Jubilee design was judged to be of such high quality for the Queen to consent to the use of the Royal Cypher on the base of each piece in the collection. A piece was also taken into the Royal Collection.
A string of successful limited editions endorsed the phenomenal rise to fame of a designer, who became the youngest female member of the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts. When the Royal Mail produced a series of first day covers to acknowledge Stoke-on-Trent ceramicists, three leading RSA members were chosen, Josiah Wedgwood, Sir Henry Doulton and Emma Bossons. Emma has travelled the world with Moorcroft seeking design inspiration and imagery from Australia, Canada, Fiji, Kiribati, New Zealand and the US have all emerged from Emma’s sketchbook in recent years from this truly international designer.
“Emma was thrilled to be a Guest Judge on the Great Pottery Throw Down and introduce her iconic Queen’s Choice design, now synonymous with Moorcroft. The Great Pottery Throw Down has done so much to champion many pottery skills and techniques found in the Potteries and across the country. To be able to demonstrate our own heritage skills has been an absolute privilege.” comments Moorcroft’s Catherine Gage, PR Director.
ABOUT THE DESIGN FEATURING IN EPISODE 9
It is beyond doubt that Emma Bossons’ Queen’s Choice design is not only one of the two longest running contemporary Moorcroft designs in the historic art pottery’s illustrious history but it is also considered to be Moorcroft’s trademark design, synonymous with all that is Moorcroft and holding Moorcroft’s hope for a fruitful future.
Inspired by Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, every fruit mentioned by Shakespeare’s Queen of The Fairies, Titania, in Act 3, Scene 1, is found in the design. Titania declares, ‘Be kind and courteous to this gentleman; Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes; Feed him with apricots and dewberries; with purple grapes, green figs and mulberries…’
Further information about this design can be found in The Legacy of Queens Choice www.moorcroft.com/latest-news
PURCHASE & VIEWINGS
- The Moorcroft Shop at The Moorcroft Heritage Visitor Centre
Tel: +44(0) 1782 820 515
Email: MHVC@moorcroft.com
The Moorcroft Heritage Visitor Centre,
Sandbach Road,
Burslem,
Stoke-on-Trent ST6 2DQ
Opening Hours: 10:30am – 4:30pm Wed – Sat (Closed Sun/Mon/Tues)
Visit our Heritage Visitor Centre web page for more information
- Moorcroft’s retailers, both UK and export moorcroft.com/retailers
Seven new shapes in the design will be formally launched on the 5th March 2023. The Moorcroft Heritage Visitor Centre in Stoke-on-Trent will also sell the Ginger Jar (RRP £795) featured on The Great Pottery Thrown Down.
