London-born Keith Brymer Jones, 58, started out as lead singer in punk band the Wigs before becoming an apprentice potter. He is now head of design for Make International and has handmade ceramics for retailers including Habitat and Heal’s. Since 2015 he has been a judge on TV’s The Great Pottery Throw Down, whose festive special airs on Christmas Day. His memoir, Boy in a China Shop: Life, Clay & Everything, was published last year. He lives in Whitstable with his partner, actor Marj Hogarth.
Did the celebrities who compete in The Festive Pottery Throw Down – Hugh Dennis, Sophie Duker, Alice Levine and Joe Swash – take you by surprise?
Every time we get celebrities on, we’re surprised by how naturally they take to it. After a couple of hours, they come out of their shells and get quite personal about what they’re making. No spoilers but there’s a Christmas miracle. One of them has truly brilliant aptitude. I was so impressed.
Which celebrity would you most like to see on the show?
Brad Pitt. He’s watched every season. Last summer, I was in a field in Wales for the Eisteddfod and randomly got a phone call from Universal Pictures, saying: “Brad Pitt’s a big fan of yours, we’d love it if you could do a personal message to him.” They played it to him on the red carpet, which was surreal. Ryan Reynolds is a fan too.
The celebrity potters see it as a badge of honour to make you cry. Do you mind that?
It’s better than a Paul Hollywood handshake! Often I get asked, are you on drugs? Is it contrived? It’s neither. I can’t make myself cry, it’s genuine. When you see someone so personally invested in what they’ve made, I can’t help but feel a connection. If I was a weedy bloke crying on telly, maybe it’d get a different reaction. But because I look like a bricklayer, people take notice. I’ll walk past a building site and blokes shout: “Oi, love your crying on TV!” You wouldn’t believe how many messages I get from men in the forces who say: “Well done, mate, it’s great not to be shy about showing your emotions.” More power to us crying men!
Then there’s nasty Keith with his rejects bucket. Is that to redress the balance?
The bucket of doom! There you go, I’m full of contradictions. I take the craft very seriously. You have to be ruthless with yourself to learn. When I was an apprentice, I had to throw 100 balls of clay at the end of each day. My boss would come along with a ruler and chop them in half if they were no good. Eventually more stayed than went in the bin. That’s when I knew I was getting somewhere.
The new series starts in January. Is the standard of amateur potters getting better each year?
I can’t… I’ll start crying. Honestly, mate, it’s unbelievable. We’ve had some incredible makes this year. And a lot of me bloody crying!
Has there been a Pottery Throw Down effect, with increased interest in pottery?
Everyone’s doing it now. This year’s potters range in age from 24 to 67, from all walks of life. The wonder of it is that people are starting to use their hands again. Clay is such a wonderfully expressive material. You can make anything with it. Having thumbs makes us humans incredibly dextrous. We can express ourselves through clay.
Was your attraction to clay a result of your dyslexia?
Absolutely. It’s just a different way of looking at the world. Back in the 80s, if you had dyslexia, you were just considered thick, but you have a much better affinity to shape, form and volume. The first moment I touched clay was age 11, in my first year of secondary school. I just took to it.
What would you have been if you weren’t a potter? Was there ever a plan B?
Prison maybe? I was very good at technical drawing, so maybe an architect. Again, that taps into the dyslexia. Many architects are dyslexic. It’s that affinity for 3D objects.
I hear you were also a dancer?
From age three to 18, I did ballet, tap, Highland and Scottish country. It taught me physical discipline, which I’m sure helped my pottery career.
Would you be interested if Strictly came calling?
Yeah, just to lose a bit of weight if nothing else! Dance is a wonderful thing for mind and body. But because I used to do it fairly well, I’d be very harsh on myself. My body won’t function the way it did when I was 15.
Tell us about your punk days. What sort of frontman were you?
A total nutter. We used to play lots of London venues with bands like Blur and Pulp supporting us. Before I went on stage, I’d have a pint of milk, a pint of lager and a bag of chips. That got my larynx in good check, then anything goes on stage. At one Camden Palace gig, I climbed up the PA stack, launched myself off and landed on my knees. Obviously the show must go on but after the gig, my jeans had to be cut off because my knees were so swollen. It was a great university of life.
Didn’t Shane MacGowan used to take money on the door at your gigs?
God yeah, the lovely Shane. He was in a band called the Nips way back when and also worked in record shops, so we crossed paths a lot. We’d knock around in a Camden gang. I remember meeting Shane in Dingwalls when his front teeth had just been knocked out in a fight. Lo and behold, it became his trademark.
Did punk influence your work?
I did a whole punk range. I have a punk attitude to anything I do. That spirit of “fuck ’em and their law” is my mantra in life. The Prodigy have a song to that effect. I saw them recently at Ally Pally.
You have sharp dress sense. Are clothes important to you?
They are. Half the clothes I wear on the show are my own. I love well-made clothes and try to promote British labels. I’m always wearing HebTroCo jeans with Grenson or Church’s shoes.
What does 2024 hold?
A big move to north Wales. We’ve bought this former Presbyterian chapel – real fire and brimstone stuff – in Pwllheli. I couldn’t even pronounce the town’s name at first. We wanted something that wasn’t a house, so we were looking at old libraries, petrol stations, cinemas, anything. Then I came across this place. We’re renovating it to be a combined living space, studio and community hall. I’d like to be making my first pots there by June.
This issue is our puzzles special. Do you enjoy quizzes?
I love a pub quiz. Marj is pretty good and I know lots of useless bits of information. Our regular team name is Satan’s Dream.
What are your Christmas plans?
We’re up on the Isle of Bute, where Marj’s family come from. Then we’ll drive further north to Oban to visit my sister and spend new year there. It’ll be a bit of a road trip but Scotland’s a beautiful place to spend the festive period. We’ll listen to Fairytale of New York and raise a toast to Shane.
What’s on your Christmas list?
I think Marj has got me a roll-top Finisterre bag. It’s waterproof so I can use it when I go sea swimming. We might even go for a bracing morning dip in Oban on New Year’s Day. Start 2024 off right.
Are there special Christmas ceramics that come out each year?
Funny you should say that. We always put the turkey on my grandmother’s old oval plate. It’s very old and was made in Stoke, where we film Throw Down. It’s wonderful how objects become so personal and valuable to you. You’ll set me off crying again!
The Festive Pottery Throw Down airs on Christmas Day at 7.30pm on Channel 4. The new series starts on Sunday 7 January
