Well we’ve been playing at shops again. After the Success of the Notting Hill pop up shop we have opened on up in Covent Garden (15 Shorts Gardens) next to Neal’s Yard cheese shop.

For us at Make it was really good to show off the whole range in its entirety and is definitely been an itch worth scratching, as not many retailers take the entire range and now with the Home Fragrance collection too it really looks like a very comprehensive offering.

It also has for us been interesting seeing what has sold most, particularly with the 64 different bucket mugs it has been interesting to see which ones have gone and who has bought them too.

We’re there until the 27^th November.

It’s very rare I come across something truly remarkable and fairly unique, but Clare Tindall’s rubber/latex sculptures are brilliant.

Now and again I come across people that you instantly know have a natural and comfortable affinity with their chosen material. It shows a true craftsmen’s skill in being able to manipulate one’s chosen medium to such an extent that it does what you want it to and so therefore able to achieve remarkable things with it, such as Clare does.

I have a few of her seedling pots (www.questionersgardentime.com) that are extremely lifelike and her sea water creatures in jars are incredible. The texture and vibrancy of the colours somehow seem natural as if you would find these creatures in the sea, but they also have a totally alien feel to them as well .

Clare has managed to link the unnatural and the natural aesthetic of her work to achieve an entertaining visual effect. It never ceases to make me smile.     

So we’re now doing promotional video shoots. Cor blimey things have moved on, and what better and more appropriate place to film such a thing as Whitstable itself were the studio is.

From conception to completion the whole project was executed in a matter of weeks. Dom doesn’t like to hang around much. Which I suppose is a good thing when dealing with this kind of thing,but it meant I only had a week to stamp and make the appropriate mugs etc and without a script until the 11^th hour is quite a challenge.

We wanted or should I say the production company (yes I know ,it all sounds so professional) to go for a spoof on the classic film ‘Brief Encounter’ and have words on the mugs that were really the subconscious dialogue.  I sat in the meeting when we first discussed this and realised that I wasn’t really needed for this task as the production team had it more than covered. It was like listening to a radio 4 play on how to construct, act, and execute a concise mini film. No ….mostly my part was to make the pots for it. Which is quite apt seeing as that’s what I do?

Once the idea had been formed it was then to find the appropriate location ,and no sooner said than done. As I stepped off the train back from that very said meeting and had the idea of using the Oxford restaurant in Whitstable. It was perfect. It fitted the aesthetic  of a waiting room come café and the owner (Lisa Wells) was really accommodating with the idea. It was quite amazing how much lighting, costumes and make up not to mention the sound and camera equipment  needed. We really did take the place over for 2 days and that really was down to the openness of the owner Lisa. I’ve since eaten in the Oxford and the food was fantastic.

What I find about Whitstable is that people (on the whole) are really willing to help out . Especially if it’s something creative.    

Anyway no doubt we shall being filming another soon as the general concept is open to all sorts of films spoofs.

Well it’s the start of another year and I’ve just exhibited at the first trade fair of the year. This time it felt different .This time it felt as if people were getting it. Getting what I and I have to say my business partner are trying to do, and that is create the KBJ range into a very comprehensive domestic cookware/life style brand.

The introduction of the Home fragrance range has certainly helped to get across the message and has proved very successful even on its first foray out in the world, and I actually feel quite proud of the finished result. This has been greatly helped by my perfume consultant Juliette Goggin who has guided me and created fragrances that are truly worth using, and fall perfectly within the KBJ world. For me it really is the usability of what has been created. Maybe because of my training I have a very strong sense of whatever is created within the KBJ range has to be usable, honest to its true function.

I know the above sounds all a bit self congratulatory, but what I’m really trying to explain is that I could not do what I do unless it came from the heart. Whatever one has or is creating whether it be an entire business or a work of art, it has to come from an honest place, and cor blimey the KBJ range has certainly come a long way on that road to a stage where I feel it now stands on its own merit.

Both Dom (my business partner) and I are very aware of growing something naturally ,and moving forward on the success of what has been created both in terms of business strategy (Dom’s area),and the product and look of the KBJ and Make as a whole (my area). There is something very satisfying in life about going with a gut feeling and after some hard work (or a lot as the case maybe) being proved right. Again I’m sounding like a self-satisfied, self-congratulatory ego, and I certainly don’t mean to. One of the things that keeps someone like me going is that I’m never truly satisfied with my work. There is always something that can and will be done better. In fact I sometimes feel quite anxious at the thought of being satisfied. For me it’s never a good thing to be totally satisfied with what you create. Maybe I’m just a nutter who has low self-esteem issues, but it works for me so long may it continue.

After visiting family up north, I took a trip to the much loved Yorkshire sculpture park where we encountered an exhibition by Jaume Plensa from Barcelona. The weather was very foggy at the time, which only added to the atmospheric pleasure and the overall experience of seeing his sculptures- they were indeed quite inspiring.

The exhibition consisted of a number of open spaces and rooms in which different pieces from across his career were placed. For my part, I took particular interest as Jaume Plensa often combines words with the sculpture to evoke a certain feeling or response from his audience.

One space consisted of a ring of gongs, each imprinted with a phrase from the Bible. You were able to play the gongs with specially placed beaters that were suspended from the ceiling. As you struck the gongs, they emitted an incredible tone. Once all gongs had been struck and you stood in the centre of the ring, you got an amazing resonating experience, as if each of the phrases on the gongs were merging into one another.

This work particularly spoke to me as you got such an overwhelming sense of the dedication and physical input by the artist. It conjured up the image of someone being very practical in executing their art, which I can definitely relate to.

Then it was off upstairs for chips and gravy. Fantastic!

In my experience through years of developing new products for different ranges, I have come to what seems maybe an obvious conclusion that inspiration and creative intent can come from many different directions. I usually find that creative inspiration stems from very strong visual ideas. This initial experience can then be taken and used on various levels, often ending up completely different from the original idea.

I recently went to my friend, Paul Elliot's private view in Whitstable and as always was pleasently inspired by his leftfield approach to observing human behaviour. This for me, like many others was refreshing, albeit slightly uncomfortable. Above all though, it was certainly different.

As in the workshop, I am always striving to to do things slightly differently in regards to how I work, how I view and how I execute a certain project. This for me is the most exciting part of the process.

Keith Brymer Jones with MAKE International are excited to be launching a Photography Competition this autumn, with some really great prizes to be won! The prizes are....

First prize of £100 store credit
Two runner-up prizes of £50 store credit

All you need to do is send us a photo of the most obscure or unusual place in which one of your Keith Brymer Jones' mugs, bowls, cups, jugs or anything else has been used!

It could be in front of a landmark, at the beach or just somewhere unexpected in your home or garden…make it unique, ironic, funny, clever or interesting… include people, a caption, your pet… think outside that box!

The competition will run from 1st September – 31st December 2011 and you can enter as many times as you like, so you needn't worry about picking your favourite to photograph, just do one of each!

Send all of your photos to us and we will put the best ones up on our gallery and they will also be featured on the Make International Wall of Fame!

Your fabulous photographs will all be judged by independant arty types (yet to be announced) over the Christmas period until the closing date..... Good Luck!!

Winners will be announced in the first week of January 2012, and you then have 12 months in which to redeem your prize..... happy snapping!

Well who would have thought it... I'm now sitting at the wheel after a gap of 6 weeks, which would have been unheard of only a few years ago. I'm making prototypes to add to the word range for the New Year to send over to my studio in one of the factories that we use in China. A far cry from making hundreds of pieces a day on the wheel!

This for me is as equally fulfilling as hand making the work myself, but has required a very different approach. Visiting and working in the factories in China is quite inspirational. The minute I walk in, I get a true sense of years of experience in producing ceramic, which to me is very exciting and although there is a language barrier, we tend to be able to communicate through the work itself, and the common goal we have in achieving new shapes and new ranges.

This hands-on and very practical approach gives me a far better understanding of not only how their work is created, but also the cultural attitudes towards the work and in turn, the way they live. It is quite simply fascinating.

The photograph above shows one of the men at the factory who is in charge of the moulds and mould making, taken on one of our regular factory trips.

Anyway, back to the wheel... speak soon.

Welcome to the new Keith Brymer Jones website – here you will find news and updates from the Studio at the Old Bakery in Whitstable, with information about new ranges, which trade shows the range is showcased at, factory visits and also a steady flow of snippets that interest Keith and hopefully those who like his work too. Watch this space for regular posts from The Old Bakery! 

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