Morning Focus Pays A Visit To Potadóir

I'm always up for trying new things, which is why I recently decided to give pottery

a go.

So having never ever been in a pottery studio, never mind sat at a pottery wheel, trying

to create something like a cup or a bowl, I clearly needed to ensure that I was being

guided by experts.

So who better to steer me in the right direction than the folks at Potador, Potador located

in the Tracklands Business Park in Ennis is a new space, opened since January, that combines

a pottery teaching school, yoga studio and craft wellness outlet.

So I paid a visit to Potador, where Kevin Keene showed me around before guiding me at

the pottery wheel.

Let's hear how I got on.

So here at Tracklands Business Park in Potador, Kevin Keene,

we're here in the yoga studio part of your setup here at the Tracklands Business Park.

Remind people the listeners and the viewers about Potador and how things are going

early doors.

Very well, which I'm sure you're thrilled about.

Yeah, delighted.

Yeah, really.

The response so far has just been unbelievable.

We opened up here in early January.

We've had the space for a few months, kind of building it out and preparing it was just

a shell when we arrived, and it's myself and my partner who are running us.

So this is the yoga studio, which Jana is kind of primarily running.

We've got eight classes a week in here at the moment, many, many different workshops

and breadth work and different different yoga modalities and mindful activities.

And then through this wall is my pottery studio, and we're teaching classes in there, holding

workshops.

I also produce my work in there, and yeah, the response has been unbelievable, you know?

Like the classes in here have been packed, and people have been like really, really resonating

very heavily with the space.

The pottery is also rolling really nicely.

People are just really enjoying being here.

Like I'm really enjoying being here.

It's a great place.

It's a lovely space.

It's like, I always say to Jana in the mornings, like to get to come in here to work.

Sometimes when you're doing something like this, you get so in it, and you get so focused

on like that bit of scouting board is off, or like I need to fix the sink or whatever.

You get kind of stuck in those things.

But like to get to come in every day and work in a yoga studio and a pottery studio that

we've built and created, and that other people are getting to experience with us.

Like it's magic.

Like we're so blessed.

Like we're really, really, really looking and really trying to just enjoy it, you know,

in the moment.

So yeah, it's been cool.

It's brilliant that it's gone well so quickly and long with that continue, but you know,

there's always a nervousness when you're taking a big leap into the, I suppose the unknown

setting up the business.

It's worked out really well.

There's a lot of demand there for yoga, but how much of that did you, or could you possibly

have known beforehand?

Like how much due diligence or forward-looking or research can you do on the desire appetite

for pottery making and yoga in NS and wider terrier before you go ahead with something

like this, a business like that?

I mean, I'm sure you can do a lot.

I suppose I'll start.

It's great to board out.

How do you know?

Kind of, yeah.

Sort of, you know.

Before this, I had a small studio in Spanish point, which is very beautiful, just a pottery

studio in a small workshop, and it went really well, and the response was very good and

very positive there.

But then this space kind of became available almost over the blue, like it wasn't really

actively looking to upscale.

I knew I needed that there was something else coming sort of, but we weren't like in

the market for ages, and then this place kind of became available, and it was too big

just for the pottery.

Myself and Jan and my partner, like we, she is a yoga teacher and I'm the potter, and

there is a lack of community space, and there's a lack of space, dedicated space for the

practice of yoga in Claire.

In the end, there's no pottery studio, of course, until now, but there is a lack of dedicated

commissars, purpose-built yoga space here, and, you know, you can see it in Claire in

Ireland, but also worldwide, like there is a move now.

There's a momentum behind returning to our bodies, becoming mindful, life is so hectic

and so busy and we're so distracted and pulled in so many directions.

People are looking for opportunities to turn off.

To just be, you know, not to be dried into a thousand different Instagram reels and news

bulletins and bills to be paid and tata tata tata tata tata, just to be, in the present

moment, either making or sitting and just being, and that's kind of very much driving

this place forward, you know, giving people the space to experience that.

So yeah, so we're in the pottery studio here now.

We have eight wheels, the classes that we run, our small group classes for seven students,

everyone has their own wheel, and we run them every couple of weeks, we run weekend

courses and the intention and ambition for this place is to get people to a level, just

introduce them to the techniques and my experience, you know, you do a workshop and it's fantastic

and then because there's so much, you know, material and infrastructure involved, it's

very difficult to continue the practice, but what we're doing is we're running these drop

in sessions.

So we're running these weekend courses to give people the basic skills and then we're

running basically self-directed but support slots in each week so you can come, rent a wheel,

develop your practice in your own space and time, I'm here to help and give guidance

and support or whatever, but I'm also working so I'll be throwing and, you know, like last

night, Thursday evening, we had five people in here working on their own stuff and some

of their stuff now is on the shelves over here, and they're doing pretty well with the

looks of us.

Yeah, I mean, this stuff is beautiful.

I mean, like most of these people, this bottom shelf, we're here last night and most of

them had never thrown apart before in their lives a month ago and they're producing really

beautiful work, you know.

This is a challenge up to me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You might need to go for a whole weekend, rather than 20 minutes in sunset.

How much of your expertise was it needed to get these to the stiff finish state around?

I mean, like I show people and I explain and I give people techniques, but I always

hate to people that, first of all, I didn't want to do any of these parts, these parts

that I made by the people who come to them.

Okay, and for the listeners, it's a variety of parts of all shapes and sizes.

Yes, it is.

It is.

It is.

And what I find fascinating is this, I mean, these are all beginners, but already you

can tell by the shapes and the styles and the forms, people are developing their own

styles, you know.

Yeah, because some of them are just smooth.

Others have, you know, fingerprint patterns, like a little star symbol, people put their

own kind of unique touches.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And that's what I really love.

Like, I really want people to be able to come here and explore and develop a creative practice

through clay that doesn't look anything like the work that I do necessarily.

So to build like a real community of potters where people can come here consistently and

continue, not just kind of come for a weekend and then six months later, say, oh, Jesus,

we go to actually maybe try some pottery and book in for another weekend to be able to

come here and have this as like a third space where, because so often people are at home

and they're at work and then they're on their phone.

And that's it.

And people don't have third spaces to go to where they can like explore creativity, have

crack, meet new people, you know, and I really want this to, to be that.

Only when it's blown, turn and say, turn and say, turn the open on of the sea.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we're just as we were going out as fast as Kevin and I've my hands copped around the

clay.

Do I need, I should really be put water on if we saw up here?

Yeah, I don't need the water.

Okay.

Thanks.

Now, in terms of beginning to create a shape, I'm trying to remember as much of what

you just did.

What we want to do is with your weekend, your right hand, I want you to grab your elbow

strongly into your thigh and then break your wrist so that you've got this wall here.

So if you open that wrist as wide as you can, and this now is going to be your wall, okay?

Okay.

And then these fingers, close around the pot, and these fingers go on top of them so

like in prayer position kind of, and now what I want you to do is I want you to squeeze

your little fingers in towards the wall, okay?

And then take your hands away for a second and let's have a look.

Make your wall, okay?

And then take your two little fingers and then give them a good squeeze.

I want you to create a kind of a mushroom shape so that there's a good, a good overhang

that you can.

Okay.

Do I need to push my little fingers in here?

Yep.

So squeeze your little fingers in towards this wall.

Okay.

Magnificent.

Super brilliant.

Super brilliant.

Yeah, is that going to bit like a mushroom?

Yeah, exactly.

So that bulge now with the perfect height for your second fingers.

So what I want you to do is to play the scales.

So little finger, second finger, third finger, always squeezing in against your wall.

So now that we have that gap that it looks like a miniature mushroom, my second fingers

will I touch those off the cup part of the mushroom?

Yes, exactly.

So if you put your hands here, you can see the way naturally the bulge is now at the

height of your second finger.

So what do you need to do to squeeze it in?

No, see the way that bulge is now at the height.

It's not even the feel of the clay, it's the feel of the wheel moving into the feet under

my hands.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's almost moving up into like a miniature fountain shape.

Exactly.

What you're doing is chasing that thick bit and squeezing it out until it becomes a tall

cylinder just like this, okay?

I'll just show you one more time so you can see.

So I make my wall.

Okay.

I take my little fingers and I squeeze them in, okay?

Okay.

And now I have my mushroom.

The mushroom is squeezed further by my second finger.

Yeah.

And then as soon as that bulge climbs, it's at the height of my third finger.

So now I squeeze my third finger.

My fourth finger just deals with the last bit and now it's up, okay?

So now it needs to come back down again.

What you need to do is you need to try and allow it to flow.

So when your hands are in this position as they wear it to close it, all I want you to

do, see what if you look at your right hand, there's like this divas here, which almost looks

like it's designed to sit on this corner.

So what I want you to do is I want you to just keep your fingers where they are, which

is bring your wrist up and with that part of your hand push through the clay.

So you're giving the...

At a side?

At a kind of an angle.

So you're pushing, let's say, towards your little fingers.

So you're giving the surface to flow against.

Beautiful.

Okay.

I'm pushing my right palm or...

I can feel it changing shape.

I think it feels like it's getting flatter.

Actually.

It's really, really beautiful.

If I want to make a mok, what do I need to do from here?

A mok is basically a straight-sided cylinder.

So everything pretty well begins as a straight-sided cylinder.

What you need to do is make it straight-sided.

So the mok is also a vessel, so you need an inside and an outside.

So your first job is to create an inside and outside.

So with both thumbs, so rest your little fingers and the sides of your hands on the wheel,

just gently.

And with both thumbs, find the middle point of the clay.

And do I need to top speed on the wheel?

Bring it in just slightly.

And just make a little divot.

Push my thumbs in, I've made a little divot.

Did you feel that kind of friction?

Yeah, that's it.

Okay.

So now we're going to fill that divot with water, and I want you to deepen that divot.

So go down a bit.

Push my two thumbs in much further.

And be good and decisive.

Then you go.

And is it creating a big divot?

It stays your cup.

Next thing.

Most cups have a flat bottom on the inside.

Okay.

So we need to do that.

So the thumbs go in and they create, they're in the same shape, but this time, instead

of going down, I want your thumbs to come out.

Okay.

So you're tracing the base of the inside of your, of your mouth.

So push my thumbs into it, but move them outwards.

Move them away from each other rather than downwards.

Very nice.

That's enough, I'd say.

No.

Beautiful.

You're an outro.

We need to volcano this in.

So we need to turn it into a shape like Mount Fuji.

So smoothly getting wide at the bottom and narrower as we get to the top.

Okay.

And if you just squeeze just the rims, so just with the top fingers, just squeeze the rim

or maybe your third finger, just squeeze the rim closed.

So make you want the rim to be significantly narrower than it is now.

You can activate that palm as well.

Is that okay, size wise?

Perfect.

And now the magic greedy begins.

You know, slowing the wheel down and with your inside hand, your right hand, you're coming

to around here.

With these two fingers.

Yeah, any two fingers.

Okay, here.

Yeah.

So I put the first and second finger in.

And then your left hand, if you can make this shape for me, so you're opening your index

finger and having it as wide as possible and your thumb flared out wide.

So if you put that bit of your finger there, there you go.

And this thumb rests on the clay.

And with the two fingers on my right hand that are in the hole of the clay, do I do anything

with those?

So all I want you to do right now, I don't want you to push, make any pressure.

All I want you to do is for both hands, to climb the walls at the same time.

So nice and slowly, starting at the bottom, continuing at the top.

Don't try and push, don't try and squeeze, don't try and achieve anything.

Just at the hands, climb the wall, nice and slowly.

Well done.

And now gently slowly, take your hands away.

Apart, I'm something.

It's something.

So this time, now that you've kind of just gently experienced that feeling, I want you

with your inside hand, the different dynamic side, the inside hand gently pushes out.

The outside hand isn't pushing back in again.

All it's doing is, it's tracing this line.

But the inside hand puts clay in the way, and the outside hand doesn't compromise.

It continues to trace the line that would have traced anyway.

And therefore, what happens, a wave, so the clay climbs like a wave.

So put the hand back in the right hand in.

It's the two fingers.

Yeah, two fingers, yeah.

Two fingers, yeah.

And do the same thing again.

So same position.

And this time, just very gently press out with the inside hand, and both hands climb

together.

There you go.

All the way to the top.

Imagine that the walls are an inch taller than actually I.

And continue, don't bring your hands together when you get to the top.

Continue, continue.

Don't go down.

There you go.

Keep on going up.

Oh, my hands are coming off it now.

Yeah, they should.

And keep on going.

There you go.

It's looking more like a cup for a latte.

It's going to be a matchable.

A matchable, yeah.

Exactly.

It's looking really good.

Once finished, it can hold liquid.

I might need to add a handle to it.

You might.

Yeah, that can be next week.

That can be next week.

Yeah.

So what do I need to do more?

I do need to narrow it now at the bottom so that it has more of that bottom shape of a

cup or a mug or this kind of skirt here that'll come off when you're trimming it.

So you get it around the base again.

And at this stage, really, I mean, this is a functional part.

It's just pure aesthetics now.

I mean, I do want it to be taller.

Do you want it to be wider?

Do you want the walls to be thinner?

Like, what do you want is the question?

Well, look, thin enough.

There cannot be too.

I do have a happy medium between big two thick or two thin.

I kind of, I tend to agree, yeah.

To be honest, I don't mind being impressed.

Yeah, it's a beautiful part.

I put it all down to my teacher.

Yeah.

For the listener, this part is going to be available in a giveaway next week.

A consolation, probably, for anybody.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

In terms of height of this potential future cup or mug, is it okay, height wise?

Yeah, totally.

Yeah, totally.

It's going to shrink by about 10% when it goes into the kettle.

All right, okay.

So it'll be like a small matcha or like a very little cappuccino.

And it's your first pass.

And so it's obviously, of course, you're learning the techniques.

You're learning what it is.

Not even learning the techniques.

You're experiencing for the first time what it is.

I've hands covered in play and all of a sudden there's a pot there.

Yeah.

So well done.

Yeah.