Thomas Hosking - BA (Hons) Product Design and Craft
Fired Again
Fired Again pays tribute to the industrial and cultural legacy of Stoke-on-Trent’s ceramics industry, acknowledging both its historic prominence and gradual decline. Made from Etruria Marl clay, native to Staffordshire and historically used in both brickmaking and ceramics, my piece grounds itself materially and conceptually in the region’s identity.
The composition features an arrangement of ceramic segments or blocks, progressing from dark, uniform tones on the left to lighter, more erratic textures on the right. This subtle gradient serves as a visual metaphor for the city's industrial decline, transitioning from a place of structured production to a diminishing industry. The form directly references the brickwork of Stoke’s historic bottle kilns and factory buildings, honouring the physical and architectural backbone of the city.
Embedded with grog from salvaged materials collected at still operational pottery sites in Stoke, the piece incorporates remnants of the industry. These inclusions root the work in lived history, lending authenticity as little pieces of Stoke reside within. Fired Again does not simply reflect on loss and decline, it’s also a gesture of recognition, preserving traces of Stoke-on-Trent’s ceramic heritage and reanimating them through clay, form, and memory
