The potter’s wheel with sex appeal

A handsome craftsman proves sex sells – even pottery

Not since that scene in the film Ghost with Demi Moore and Patrick swayze has a potter’s wheel been so fetishised in moving image.

the wheel in question is situated in the copenhagen studio of the potter eric Landon, who has gained a growing global online fan base for the mesmeric videos he posts of himself at work. the broodingly handsome Land on has amassed more than 650,000 followers on instagram, who comment enthusiastically on images of sculptural pots bei ng fa sh ioned f rom unpromising lumps of clay.

‘Handmade ceramics fill a growing need that people have for filling their lives with possessions of timeless value,’ he says. ‘they are humble, honest, and seemingly unmarked by the forces that have led to a throwaway culture.’

Landon g rew up in the American Midwest and moved to copenhagen in t he late 1990s to st udy at t he Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts school of Desig n. i n 201 2 he co-fou nded t he ceramics firm tortus with fellow potter Karin Blach Nielsen, who glazes the works he makes. Located in a lea f y cour t yard, t heir 18t h-centur y studio provides an instagram-ready backdrop for rows of pretty ceramics, which are shipped around the globe.

Now, Landon’s brot her Just in, a n artist, is getting in on the act: he has collaborated with stoke-on-trent pottery 1882 on a ra nge of f i ne-bone-chi na tableware bearing his distinctive black and white line drawings. Undulating sections of the turbulence pattern have been applied to plates, bowls and mugs to striking effect, furthering 1882’s reputation for making t raditionally produced china that suits contemporary tastes. Prices start at £18.

Pots made by Eric Landon’s studio, Tortus; the man himself; taking a novel approach to displaying his own work; a graphic bowl by his equally talented brother, Justin, for the Stoke-on-trent pottery 1882 From top