The Potter’s Craft

A factory roars with wheels, turning out pottery by the thousand. Can one devoted worker at a bench move the manufacturer—and change what the public learns to value?

Charles Fergus Binns opens this practical guide amid the growing divide between mass production and the handmade arts. He has no call to shut the factories or turn back the clock: instead, he argues for the artist-artisan, whose skill and judgment can bring individuality and care to useful things. For potters, the challenge is not merely to make a vessel well, but to make it worthy—and to have the courage to reject work that falls short. What does it take for the hand at the bench to make its mark on a world of machine-made wares?

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