Curator Janice Blackburn on how to start a craft collection

I started collecting pottery (which I didn’t refer to as ceramics in those days), in my early twenties and I fell in love with Clarice Cliff and Carlton Ware.

A lifetime has passed, and I still love my Clarice Cliff studio pottery which sits in my home next to contemporary work. It makes me smile and each piece tells a story. I found them in markets and antique stalls and when something caught my eye and I could afford it, I bought it.

I believe what you buy should bring you joy, and I have never followed any buying strategy or policy. I don’t need to; my eye does the work. When I curated selling exhibitions at Sotheby’s (for 15 years) I selected work - even if it wasn’t to my particular taste - which was unusual, and above all original. Perfect things that are too influenced by other makers really doesn’t interest me. It’s just ‘playing safe’.

I prefer something bold and a ‘bit rough around the edges’ but with potential. I showed taxidermy which certainly wasn’t my ‘thing’ by a talented woman called Kelly McCallum, a Royal College of Art graduate who was also a jeweller and metal worker.

There was another Royal College of Art graduate who had studied jewellery but became a ‘mender’. She bought mainly second-hand children’s books and made silver engraved pieces to cover the damaged pages and for her degree show travelled on the longest tube journeys, mending the seats all the while documenting the process in a diary. Brilliant!

I visited college degree shows and New Designers in my search and would study Crafts magazine and numerous publications on the lookout for what caught (and still catches) my eye. Tearing out the pages to remind me.

Graduates need (and deserve) a start in their careers and also confidence. There are numerous well known makers whose work I bought and exhibited in their early days (Gareth Neal, Barber Osgerby , Jochen Holz, even Edmund de Waal and Martino Gamper to name a few).

Most of the things in my home were commissioned and I love being involved in the process. Sometimes it doesn’t come out as expected, but for me, it’s part of the fun and excitement. And contrary to what you might think, no more expensive.

Some of my most inspiring experiences were working with graduates of colleges in China, Israel and the Netherlands. I selected the work which came to Sotheby’s in London. Different cultures and different approaches. Fascinating.

My advice to customers was always ‘If you love it and you can afford it, you should buy it. I have no regrets about what I have bought but plenty of regrets about what I didn’t buy.

Future Edit sums this up. Some interesting and surprising work in spite of it being a challenging and tough year.

And yes, I was an early bird and have been shopping and delighted with my purchases - I can’t wait to get them home.