Moorcroft makes debut on The Great Pottery Throwdown

Series 6 of The Great Pottery Throw Down reaches the penultimate episode this Sunday. So far, the series has seen 12 extremely talented home potter contestants join presenter Siobhán McSweeney, and judges Keith Brymer Jones and Rich Miller, to add warmth to viewer’s winter Sunday evenings, as they battle it out through a number of tough ceramic challenges that pushes the contestant’s imagination, creativity, skill and craftsmanship.

The Great Pottery Throw Down, filmed at Gladstone Pottery Museum, is well known for celebrating the rich history of British pottery creation in the heart of The Potteries itself, Stoke-on-Trent. Episode 9 of the show, to be aired this Sunday 5 March, will see Stoke-on-Trent’s famous art pottery, Moorcroft, debut on the show and showcase its design acumen, the pottery’s very own heritage skill of ‘tubelining’. Moorcroft designer Emma Bossons will become a guest judge for the semi-final stage whilst contestants get fired up to compete in a Queen’s Choice challenge, based on Emma’s design of the same name.

In this surprise second challenge, the four remaining contestants will face a difficult test of design and one requiring a steady hand as they take on the iconic Moorcroft ‘tubelining’ (as demonstrated by Moorcroft’s tubeline artisit Gill Johnson) as well as fine artistry.

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.

Catherine Gage, Moorcroft’s PR Director commented: 

 “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.” 

Tune into Channel 4 this Sunday 5 March at 7.45pm to see which contestants will conquer the fine art of tubelining to make it through to the final and be with in a chance of being crowned winner of The Great Pottery Throwdown 2023.  

For more information about Moorcroft including visiting the pottery, and booking on a factory tour to see the incredible talent that goes into producing the pottery, please head to www.moorcroft.com   

Special Offer for Moorcroft Heritage Visitor Centre Factory Tours in March & April 2023...

Book on a factory tour for £7.50 per adult and receive a £50 gift voucher to redeem against a purchase made on the day of the tour. There will be a minimum spend of £150 (net of any discounts) before the voucher can be applied.  The voucher is applicable on best quality and blemished pieces in the Moorcroft Heritage Visitor Centre but only on a minimum spend of £150 against factory shop stock only.  No further vouchers, discounts, or offers can be redeemed alongside this voucher. 

Terms & conditions...

1. For every single factory tour place booked in February, March & April 2023, a £50 voucher is given (£150 minimum spend net of any other discounts). Only one voucher per person can be redeemed. The voucher will be issued upon arrival of the tour and is valid for that day only. Offer is restricted to bookings of a maximum of 6 people.

2. Factory Tour places can be reserved at www.moorcroft.com/factory-tour  or by calling 01782 820500 Mon – Fri 9am – 5.00pm or 01782 820515 Wed- Sat 10.30am to 4.30pm to make a booking.

3. Please quote coupon code TOURVS when booking online/over the phone to obtain the voucher.