Exploring Bow Porcelain

Join us for an object-handling workshop with local artists as we celebrate the launch of our exhibition Making East London Porcelain.

You will take part in a conversation with local ceramic artist Julia Ellen Lancaster, one of the Explorer Leach 100 Artists, whose work offers a modern twist on sculptural figures and historic clay recipes, such as those made by the Bow Porcelain Factory. We will also hear from Maria and Astrid, our two young CapCo Practice-Led Researchers who have created a piece in the exhibition entitled ‘Investigations into Material Geographies, Exploring the Colonial Legacies of Unaker’. During the talk you will also have the opportunity to handle and examine historic rare pieces of eighteenth-century Bow porcelain from the Newham Borough of London guided by V&A Ceramics Curator, Dr Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth, and learn about how historic making processes inspire and influence ceramic artists in Newham today.

Making East London Porcelain is part of a collaborative science-led heritage project between the V&A Museum and Newham Borough of London, which has been made possible by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) Capability for Collections Fund. Focusing on the celebrated Bow Porcelain Factory, this project brings communities together to explore Newham Borough as a place of creativity, experimentation and entrepreneurship in the mid-eighteenth century. Co-curated with sixth-form students from Chobham Academy (Newham) and Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School (Chelsea), the exhibition explores how heritage science and re-making practices can help us better understand the places we live today and inspire us to innovate and experiment tomorrow.