The pottery boom during the pandemic. Making a little mess on the path to mental clarity.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, pottery and ceramic arts were already on their way to becoming the next big thing. However, lockdowns and restrictions in place accelerated the process by providing the best opportunity for many more people to give it a try.

The recent appetite for crafting can be spotted everywhere in these challenging times, but pottery has some special benefits that make it so powerful in our current context; It is a way to slow down, relax exercise our sense of touch and maybe create something to add to our living space – a space that has become more important than ever.

Many people around the world have started to practice this ancient craft and fall in love with the slow, soothing experience of being behind the pottery wheel, making something new and forgetting about Zoom meetings for a while. Libby Buckley, pottery director at Leach Pottery in the UK, said this in a 2021 interview:

“I think the idea of craft and making has really taken off in the last couple of years, some of that is down to Covid. People who spend their time on a computer all day like the idea of having a go, getting their hands dirty. The great thing about pottery is that it’s really playing with mud. It’s very tactile.”

Pottery classes in person might be totally booked now that restrictions are getting lifted, but even in the middle of the pandemic, with strict social distancing rules, some studios pivoted and found a way to take the joy of pottery into their clients’ houses with ‘quarantine kits’. This is the case of studios like Claytime from Australia, or the many Etsy sellers that are creating their own kits to sell online.

It’s amazing to see all this people taking an interest in exploring their creativity and having a go at things like pottery. A mindful, slow paced and tactile craft that could help us relax and focus on the now while things are still a little messy outside.