Rich Miller – Judge

Series nine is upon us. What can we expect?

More of the expected Throw Down family hug, the warmth and the lovely creativity to get you through the winter months, really. I feel like this was a really standout series, in many ways. We had a much closer set of skills amongst our potters it was a really close-fought, exciting series. 

Every week felt like ‘Potter of the Week’ was up for grabs, so it was really exciting,  they all just went for it from the outset, and you just couldn’t tell who was going to win each week. It was mind-boggling!

If they’re all evenly matched, that must make your and Keith’s job that much harder…

It really does. It was a nightmare. I had sleepless nights both before and after the decisions. I tend to be a bit of a ruminator, and probably think on things too much to my detriment. But it was really difficult to choose. It meant we had to really hone in on the detail of what was asked for in the brief, and scrutinise the work more than we would ordinarily have to, just to split the hairs between each piece. It was a really difficult process, but I kind of feel it should be, really.

Tell us a bit about the potters. There’s always such an eclectic mix…

Yes, and that’s definitely the case again this year. All sorts of different backgrounds, age groups, and different reasons for finding clay. We had people who had found it because they’d been struggling with their mental health, other people who were just using it as an antidote to their every day. We had tattoo artists, teachers, the usual random mix, which is lovely. The one unifying factor is the clay, and that’s so great. When I started out I found clay because of the community of people, and the positive effects it had on my mental health. And they all bring something different to the studio, which is lovely.

In your judging, what are you looking for? Which is more important, technical proficiency, or putting your personality into something?

As a creative person, you spend your life trying to find your voice as a maker, and trying to find what makes your voice unique or personal to you. On the show, we often find that they’re just tipping over that balance point where their core skills are still growing, but they’re now starting to find who they are and how to express themselves through the work. I get most excited when you’ve got someone who’s really striving for the technical aspects, but something just clicks, and they manage to find something that makes their work really stand out and feel personal to them. But I’m still a stickler for the technical aspects, so for me, it’s a mixture of the two. However good something looks, it has to be made well, but as an art form, it is all about self-expression. 

What were your favourite challenges this year?

Ooh, there were some crackers this year. I really loved the puzzle jugs – they’re the most bonkers things! I’ve seen them in museums, and I’ve made a couple myself, and they’re always confusing to make. Although it’s a small object, and they only have to make a jug, the engineering of making a puzzle jug is just mind-blowing.

Obviously I know this, of course(!) but for those at home who don’t know, what is a puzzle jug?

Oh yeah, of course! They were really popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were a sort of game in taverns and pubs. They look like an ordinary jug, but they’ve got a pierced neck around the top, and you can never pour it like a normal jug, because it would just all pour out of the pierced sections. But within the handle is a concealed straw that goes down to the bottom of the jug, and somewhere around the rim, there’s a spout that you suck through to pull the liquid up from the bottom. But the only way to do that is to find a hole somewhere on the straw through the handle and rim, which you have to then cover so that you can make the vacuum to suck the liquid up. So you have to figure out how to drink from the jug, and all of them are different. Some will have ten spouts and only one of them you can suck through, some will have three spouts but two or three different holes that you have to cover up, so it’s a real puzzle.

That must have been really fun for you and Keith to test…

Exactly, it was brilliant. Unfortunately, I drew the short straw, because I really wanted to test them, but Keith got the opportunity. But it was brilliant fun. They were decorative, and all of the potters had really lovely stories behind their rationale for making them. It was really playful and fun. That was one week we lost a really good potter, because they made a bit of a faux pas. This year there are lots of challenges that test multiple aspects, which was really exciting.

Any other challenges stand out?

Yeah, another one I loved, that I still think about, was the retro souvenir set. It was so evocative of a time. I grew up on the south coast, and our local seaside was Hayling Island. It’s one of those seaside towns that used to have a train line down from London, and people used to come and spend holidays there, but the trainline went, and it fell into disrepair for a bit. I used to go as a kid to the amusement arcades there, and you’d find all the kitsch souvenirs there that were so evocative of a seaside holiday. So the potters made these souvenir sets, and they were really extraordinary. It was like you’d stepped into a 1950s holiday resort on the coast.

A sort of stick of rock and saucy postcard vibe…

Completely, exactly that kind if vibe. It was amazing. And on the technical side, they started using sprigs and texture, and really started exploring interesting processes, but equally they were super-personal, looking back at family holidays and things like that. This was the marriage of the technical and the personal that I was talking about. It was a joyous surprise.

What second challenges are lined up? Do you have more special guests coming in?

Yes, we had some really good special guests. Gabriel Nichols was back, he did a big throw with them, and they got to use the clay that’s raw out of the ground from the Humber Estuary that he throws with, which is a beautiful clay. I actually managed to snaffle some of the scraps away, so I’m looking forward to having a play with that. And we had Cleo Mussi, who produces mosaics, and that was fascinating. She takes materials, ceramics that people don’t use anymore, and breaks them up, and turns them into a nostalgic mosaic. I came away with one of her pieces, which is an occupational hazard of meeting all these creative people. She had this beautiful bumblebee, and my daughter is called Bea, so I just had to get it. And we had Jo Taylor, fresh off her win at the British Ceramics Biennial, and she creates these beautiful, ornate baroque-style pots. But she makes the adornments in the most mind-boggling way. It’s such an education for me whenever we have a guest in.

Presumably the dreaded Bucket of Doom makes an appearance. You always seem to take less pleasure in that than Keith!

Yeah. He turns into a very scary individual when he has that bucket in his hands. It’s real Jekyll-and-Hyde stuff, he goes from the most emotionally connected man to this demon with a bucket that’s just looking to destroy anything that’s not perfect. I really struggle with it, so I leave the destruction to Keith. 

Princess, who was a potter on series 7, is now in her second season as the show’s kiln technician. What’s it like having her back?

She is fabulous. I would say she was one of the potters who left the show before her time, because she always had incredible basic skills, it was just her decorative element that didn’t align with her approach to making. She’s just so energetic and upbeat and positive, she’s been a really lovely addition to the team. It’s fabulous, she’s great to have around.

Apparently Siobhán  likes to play with the clay between her bits of filming. How are her skills coming along?

She’s doing really well. What I love about her is that she comes in with a really clear idea of what she wants to make for her house. So she’ll arrive and tell me she’s making a soap dish, and ask me about her approach, and whether a certain oxide will work. Over the years, she’s gained so much knowledge, and become really fired up about making stuff. And I think it does her so much good, to be able to have a set up and make a few bits while she’s on set. She’s looking to purchase a new flat, so she made tiles for that, as well as a soap dish. She’s not just interested in the potters and the processes, she wants to do it herself as well. It’s great. 

Your house is already probably too full of ceramics, but if you could have any creation from a previous series in your home, what would you choose?

Cor, that’s a really good question! One thing I think I probably would have, and it’s a bit of a curveball, is the garden gnomes from series five. I know garden gnomes are a bit marmite, but a good friend of mine bought me a gnome for my 40th birthday, because he knows my wife hates them with a passion! And that has pride of place in the garden. With the gnome challenge, one of the potters. Called Tom, made these dancing gnomes, sort of festival gnomes, and I loved them. I’d love to have them enjoying a bit of a dance-off in my flower bed. There are things I’ve bought from potters after the show. Christine, who was also in series five, she made some mugs with little brown fairies on them, and talked a lot about inclusivity. And having a mixed-race daughter, it was something that was really prevalent in my thinking, making her feel her identity was valid, as a mixed-race British person. So after the series, I commissioned one of those from Christine. I also loved her self-sculpture, talking about her breast cancer. It was incredibly powerful, and really brave. Unfortunately, we’ve been through that in our household – my wife had breast cancer at the end of 2024. And it’s not until you go through it, as a family, that you can really appreciate the impact that it has. I often think back to that sculpture. 

I’m so sorry you all had to go through that...

Well, after all the surgeries and treatment, my wife’s been given the all-clear. We’re the lucky ones. You reflect on artworks and things you’ve seen, but when you can relate to things personally, it has another layer of meaning. 

Talking of taking inspiration from past series, have you yet built the hell-mouth pizza oven you said you were going to make?

It is yet to come. We are in the process of selling our house and moving. With all the health stuff, it calls to mind “What do we want out of the next ten years of our lives?” Those sorts of questions. We’re not in our forever house, but we’re kind of keen to take on a project, so we’ve offered on a house up in Shropshire to make it our forever base. So I was planning to build the oven last summer, but that was just as we were deciding whether to move. So I never built it. But I think the Shropshire house will be the place, and it will be one of the first things I’ll do when we move in. Much to my wife’s dismay. I’ve got all of the materials to make the hellmouth, so it’s just waiting to go. 

It's probably not that easy to sell a house with a terrifying oven in the garden…

That’s exactly right. It’s an acquired taste. Actually, we had a couple come to look at the house last weekend, and the woman was a potter, and she came in while I was working in the studio and went: “Oh my goodness, I knew the person who lived here was a potter, but I had no idea it was you.” And we then had a two-hour conversation about Throw Down, it was really nice. But I agree, a horrific beast sitting on the patio may not be the best selling point. 

You famously love a bit of fancy dress. Did you get to dress up for any introductory sketches this year?

That is a massive yes. Several outfits, thankfully. I was showing the pictures to my daughter, and now she’s gone into double-digits, she’s just turned ten, there was a definite headshake. I’ve now reached the stage where my dressing up is no longer an inspiration, it’s more embarrassing. 

You’ve reached peak eye-rolling stage…

Exactly. But I don’t mind, as long as I get to dress up. There were several. There were some animals. The outfits were wonderful this year. 

Sometimes it feels like you only do the show so you get to dress up… 

[Laughs] The production team know how much I love dressing up, so thankfully they’re letting me go with it. It’s quite funny, seeing some of the comments on social media, with people saying “It’s so cruel, the way they make Rich and Keith dress up and do all of these things at the start of the show,” and I’m thinking “Crikey! If only they knew!” It’s me that’s begging for the outfits to be brought in.

If the ceramics ever goes bad, you should consider a career in panto…

Oooh, yeah, I’d definitely be up for that. That’s a great call. Panto, with a sideline fancy dress shop. We’ve all got to have a plan B, haven’t we!

One of the lovely aspects of the show is its kindness. Do you think that’s becoming more important, the way the world is just now?

Yeah. I feel like we all exist in this digital realm means we lack real connections, and I think the lovely thing about clay is that you have the connection with the earth, with the material, that’s really lovely, but also the connection with people. The people that are attracted to it are inevitably always just down to earth, kind and supportive, because we all know how difficult and challenging it is to make anything in it. And it does feel like the antidote to today’s society. I think that’s partly how I found it, really. It was something where I found a community of people who didn’t judge me. I had a bit of a tough time at school. Sussex in the 80s was not as tolerant as it is now. When I got to college and I started working with clay, and then I met potters and I started working with them, they didn’t judge me on the way that I looked. There was just an openness and a warmth to them. If we could spread that through the world, I think it’s required now more than ever, really, with everyone so polarised. And I think our relationship to clay is so ancient, it transcends the political divisions we’re experiencing now. We’ve lived in clay houses for thousands of years, eaten off clay bowls for thousands of years. I think there’s something about the material that takes us beyond politics in a lovely way. 

The potters always seem to get incredibly close. Was that the case again this year?

Definitely. People often talk about how you get close to people if you go through an intense experience with each other. The lovely thing about this is it does stretch them all as people, it’s an unusual environment, it’s very fast-paced, and I think it does challenge them, but because they’re going through that together as a group, they do form this really tight bond, this community of strength between them, and they all share ideas and tools and thoughts. They experience this wonderful process together, and they always form a really beautiful bond, and this year was no exception. 

The ultimate goal has to be a Throw Down wedding…

Oooh, can you imagine? That would be amazing. We could get Keith to officiate, so he could do the ceremony.

He’d probably cry.

Yes, maybe you’re right. Okay, we’d better give that role to Siobhán, then.

You live in a house, filled with ceramics, but also with a dog and three cats. That sounds like a recipe for disaster!

And throw the ten-year-old into the mix! We’ve learned to exploit high-shelving units. Anything that we really cherish is high up. But actually, the cats seem to be quite good at avoiding things. But the dog is like a bull in a china shop – everything we want to keep is completely out of the way of him. And Bea has grown up with it, so she’s really good at handling ceramics, and taking care around it. But you will inevitably get the odd game of keepy-uppy where the balloon goes in the wrong direction. We have had things broken, but I’m quite philosophical about it. Broken pots is what keeps potters in work. Once one is broken, you’ve got an excuse to buy another one.

Plus, you’ve got that style of pottery where you break things and then stick them back together…

Yeah, kintsugi. So you add that gold, and it actually elevates it. I was at a show back in May, and a woman came up to me and told me she was a kintsugi specialist, if I ever had anything broken. And the last piece I made before I closed my tile workshop I’d broken in the van when I moved out, and I’ve just received it back after she repaired it, and it’s wonderful. It’s nice to acknowledge those imperfections, it speaks to the story behind it. 

Do you think the show has contributed to an increase in pottery nationwide? And if so, how does that make you feel?

Yeah, undoubtedly it has. I speak to a lot of friends who are potters, who tell me their evening classes are full. And I speak to lots of people who say they can’t get into classes because they’re all full. It’s really gratifying and humbling, to have the Throw Down giving people a taste of what makes pottery so special. I feel so proud to be a small cog in the big wheel that is the Throw Down. I don’t think any of us ever imagined it would grow into such a positive, well-loved thing.