7 makers and studios turning ceramics green

Craft is often seen as a harmless escape from the stresses of contemporary life: a wholesome antidote to mass production in a globalised world. When viewed through the lens of sustainability, however, it is not immune from criticism. Ceramics, with their often toxic metal glazes, use of non-renewable virgin materials and carbon-heavy kiln firings, are ripe for a radical re-think. The problems are many and varied: the mining of china clay alone leaves behind nine tonnes of waste for every one tonne of clay extracted; shipping clay around the world comes at a heavy carbon cost; once glazed and fired to over 1,100° C, clay cannot easily be reused, nor will it biodegrade.

However, a new breed of makers is seeking more sustainable methods of working that revisit ceramic heritage, explore materials and techniques with a green edge, and even take a scientific approach. Here, we explore seven examples of clay with a conscience.

Granby Workshop

One of fired clay’s virtues is its sheer longevity – ceramic endures for millennia. In our age of ever-expanding landfill sites, however, this can be a problem. Liverpool-based Granby Workshop tackled this head-on with Granbyware, the world’s first 100 per cent recycled ceramic tableware.

‘We wanted to avoid using even the tiniest bit of primary materials,’ says team member Lewis Jones. ‘We looked at the usual properties of our raw clay and glaze ingredients, and then tried to reverse-engineer them using waste materials.’ After much trial and error, they succeeded in transforming crushed glass, factory sludge and broken pottery from landfill fodder into speckled plates, bowls and mugs.

Studio ThusThat

The alumina production industry is crying out for ecological intervention: 150 million tonnes of red mud (also known as bauxite residue) is created worldwide every year as a by-product, leaving vast lakes of hazardous, highly alkaline mud. Studio ThusThat treated the sludge as an untapped opportunity, teaming up with research labs to create their innovative Red Mud tableware collection.

‘It’s important to encourage people to see the inherent beauty of waste materials,’ says studio member Kevin Rouff. ‘Our decision to make tableware was a provocation – we knew that people would freak out about eating off it.’ Now developed, the Red Mud collection offers a model for future production – making use of an abundant material and alleviating an industry’s waste crisis.

Sinae Kim

‘Urine is considered waste, but it can be really versatile,’ says material designer Sinae Kim. To explore its potential, Kim collaborated with a scientist and discovered that, when distilled through evaporation then fired at a high temperature, urine’s urea and mineral content creates a glossy, opaque ceramic glaze.

Her Urine Ware collection of ceramic vessels is glazed with urine, with forms inspired by bladders and laboratory flasks – and required 280 litres of urine collected over five months. This eccentric approach to glazing stands as a provocative statement on the breadth of sustainable alternatives awaiting discovery.

Agne Kucerenkaite

The mining of materials for glazes comes with a host of ethical and ecological issues. Avoiding unnecessary mining is one positive step. Ceramic designer Agne Kucerenkaite has found alternative metal oxide sources in the refuse from industries such as leather production and the drinking water supply. According to Kucerenkaite, providing drinking water for just one town creates around 10 tonnes of iron waste per month – a huge untapped resource.

For her Ignorance is Bliss project, she uses this in pigments for tiles and tableware: ‘My aim is to show that waste is not a limitation, but an opportunity.’ The result is a spectrum of glazes, ranging from iron-rich reds, browns and blacks to copper greens.

Yoon Seok-hyeon

‘I thought ceramics were recyclable, but they’re not,’ says designer Yoon Seok-hyeon. ‘Because of glazing, ceramic waste just ends up in landfill. I decided to find another, more sustainable way to glaze ceramic pieces.’ By coating ceramics with layers of resin, traditionally used as a lacquer, he discovered that surfaces became waterproof – mimicking the effects of glaze.

‘I didn’t invent this material and technique – I just adapted it to ceramics,’ he explains. ‘It’s a historic craft called ottchil from Korea that’s used on wooden objects. As it’s just tree resin, the feeling of the material is very natural and warm. That’s what I like about it the most.’ Unlike glaze, resin from Ott trees doesn’t need to be fired; plus, it evaporates at a temperature of 900°C, rendering the ceramic beneath re-useable as chamotte (ceramic grit added to clay to give texture).

Tiipoi

‘Indestructibility is not necessarily synonymous with good,’ says Spandana Gopal of design studio Tiipoi. For its Longpi Cookware collection, the studio looked to the craft traditions from the Manipur region in northeastern India.

Working with craftsman Matthew Sasa, Tiipoi refashioned the local black earthenware pottery, formed of serpentine stone and river clay into a range burnished to avoid the use of either non-stick chemical coatings or glazes, meaning the pieces – which are fired at low temperatures – will eventually biodegrade. Gopal adds: ‘The fact that they are made from a single material, thereby allowing them to be returned to the earth, is why we can truly call this collection sustainable.’

Lotte Douwes

‘We can’t continue pretending natural resources are endlessly available,’ says Dutch ceramic designer Lotte Douwes. ‘Porcelain clay won’t be available forever, so we need to be aware of how precious it is. I decided to find a way to use every part of the porcelain within the same production cycle.’

For her Shadows of Light: Circular Collection, Douwes grinds shards left from making her tableware to a fine powder, using it for slip-casting cups, vessels and plates instead of pure white kaolin clay – limiting the use of virgin materials, while retaining porcelain’s legendary translucency. It’s an approach that is easy to imagine being scaled-up in future.

Keen to go green? Discover eight easy ways to reduce your ecological impact as a potter.