- Yo.
- Hey Alexa, where are you off to today?
- I'm on my way to interview
amazing ceramicist Freya Bramble-Carter.
She has a studio in London,
and I'm gonna visit that and check out her wares,
and figure out how to make my own beautiful ceramics.
- I can't wait to hear all about it.
And please bring me something back for the house.
- I will for sure bring you
some kind of creation, yes.
[gentle music]
So Freya, this is your beautiful studio,
and you share it with your dad, Chris.
Did you learn your craft from your dad?
Or were you inspired by his work?
- Probably all of the above.
I just found the medium of clay very easy to use,
'cause I grew up looking at them in the living room.
Little did I know it was probably a tool
that I used to navigate my communication through
when I was a kid.
- In what ways would you say that
your work is similar and how does it differ?
- [Chris] My finished work has human elements in it,
like women's faces, bits of bodies,
and Freya's a bit more-
- More fluid. - Yeah.
- How long have you been here for?
- [Chris] 35 years.
- It's like a family.
- Can you tell me how you were able
to sort of foster a community of artists?
- Ever since I came down from Scotland,
I went to Glasgow School of Art,
I taught in Kensington and Chelsea College.
And then a time came, I got my own studio,
and then from that it just grew and grew and grew.
- And it is that amazing thing
of it being everyone working
sort of in isolation together.
And that even if they're not directly having
a dialogue about what they're doing,
there's something about the energy of the space
that's like creating a flow.
- That's what's really special about sharing studio.
You don't even have to talk.
There's just like a magnetic hum in this space.
I've had about three people
that have gotten married and have babies.
I have a lot of pregnant women.
- Get me to that clay.
[everyone laughing]
All righty.
- Boom. - Oh!
- [laughs] Get in the middle.
- [Alexa] Oh my God.
- Yeah.
Now, try again.
Do it. Yes.
And push, push, push.
Get it really stuck on.
- Ah!
- Have your foot on the pedal.
That's it.
We're gonna seal it on with your right hand
to get it really stuck on,
and then we can add lots of water.
[Alexa groans]
I'm gonna come round and help.
Lean into it with all your body weight.
And then with this hand,
you're gonna turn it to the side.
That's it.
Push down with your body right there.
Lock onto your thumb.
That's it.
[both laughing]
[upbeat music]
Thumbs in the middle and make a hole.
Bit of water.
And then pull out.
Keep your hands pushing back.
That's enough.
Good. Good, good, good, good, good.
Good, good, good.
Mind there.
Get a bit more height.
Good. Well done.
Do this. That's it.
And fold this down.
There, good.
We're gonna put this here.
You lock this elbow into your side of it.
That's it. - Awkward.
- I know it very, less awkward.
- I can't.
- All right.
- [Alexa] Yeah.
- Excellent.
That's so good.
- She's wobbly, uh-oh.
- Stop the wheel and wobble it.
- [Alexa] Oh, gorgeous.
- [Freya] There you go, petals.
- This one I think is very, very beautiful,
but I don't wanna inflict this on Edward,
so I think we should keep going,
see where we get to, and then pick the best one.
- [Freya] We'll keep practicing.
[gentle music]
- You could do this as an exercise class.
- Exactly, yeah.
Oh, 100%.
[Alexa groans]
- Okay, it's decoration time.
So what's your process from design to creation?
- I kind of work backwards,
and I have the final piece in vision
right at the beginning.
Along the way you kind of pick up
new bits of inspiration.
So your starting point kind of ends up
a completely different story,
and that's part of the joy really.
You know, you always think you can do more and better,
and you never wanna full stop anything.
It's just like always exploring.
- What do you enjoy most about ceramics?
And what do you think this practice
has provided you with?
- I think a lot of the lessons that
clay as material teaches you is very parallel
to sort of growing up
and growing awareness into this world.
Such as with how you even treat
and touch the clay with kindness.
You kind of start living your life a bit like that.
You do things a bit slower,
and you think about every moment of your day
down to how you're breathing, and talking,
and looking at people and all of that,
all of that comes into play.
- Meditative and gentle.
- I think it's definitely kind of
more warped my personality.
- I think I need a bit more of that. [laughs]
What does this do?
Can I borrow it?
- Yeah, you can borrow it.
That's really nice for scratching this texture through.
- I'm just going in.
Oh, yeah.
Wolverine could never,
so I have written Forces for Change.
[upbeat music]
You know how you host classes in the studio?
- [Freya] Yeah.
- What do you think is the best thing
about teaching others?
- It's a two way street, really.
I think I started because I wanted to share this craft,
because what it gave me, I just wanted to show other people.
- [Alexa] Yeah.
- And then, you know, during that whole process
I was learning just very basic human skills
about talking to people and stuff like that,
and trying to communicate like what you do
with your hands, the touch, the feeling,
'cause a lot of words aren't involved,
but you still have to use them
to talk to these brand new people.
- It's just well vibey.
- It's just vibey.
- I think I have finished Edward's beautiful vase.
EE heart AC.
[Alexa blows]
- Lovely.
That's so sweet.
He can't not like it.
He's very lucky.
- I feel like he's very polite,
so he just be like, "Thank you.
Love it."
Freya, thank you so much-
- You're so welcome. - For teaching me today.
And also it's been so lovely
to hear about all the other people you teach.
- Thank you. - Your community,
and it's been a real pleasure.
Thank you.
- You're so welcome.
Thanks for coming.
- Now I'm gonna go and shock Edward with this. [laughs]
[gentle music]
- Ah.
"Dear Edward, I hope you enjoy
this Forces for Change masterpiece.
Love, Alexa."
Thank you.
I love it.
[camera clicking]