Dinner Party Politics

摘要

Studio potters making functional ware in the last century defined their role in the face of what they felt to be the aesthetic impoverishment and social injustice brought about by industrialisation. Handmade tableware, many believed, was morally superior to its industrial counterparts and these makers set out to make widely affordable, beautiful, usable pots as an alternative to those factory-made products. Today this ideology seems untenable. Industrial production provides a vast selection of attractive tableware in a wide range of styles, quality and prices, efficiently catering for our utilitarian and lifestyle needs. Nevertheless, I would argue that this craft form offers unique qualities that neither industrial tableware nor non-functional ceramics can. Tableware belongs, ultimately, in the home: it is part of our daily life and surroundings. We form an intimate relationship with these constantly handled pots. Their familiarity endows them with a special resonance and thus they serve as a highly suitable medium through which to express meanings through and beyond their immediate function. This potential is important in enabling us to discover the continuing relevance and significance of handmade tableware to the potter and society.